


How High The Moon

by pleasanthell



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-22
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-16 19:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 39,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/542985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleasanthell/pseuds/pleasanthell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Santana owns and operates a gay-friendly speakeasy in New York city during the 1930s. Brittany finally gains the courage to drop by one night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You’ve never been to one of these clubs before. The small entrance is off the side of one of the nicer hotels in town. Your friends told you about it. The ones who knew about your near affair with your neighbor’s wife. Although your friends are modern, progressive people of the 1930s, you couldn’t get any of them to come with you. You lick your lips and look around. There are couples all around you drinking the illegal alcohol and paired off with members of their own sex. Initially you’re uncomfortable, but you find yourself growing more at ease.

You sit at the bar, lifting your dress so that you can sit down. You’re glad that your friends told you that you needed to dress up because otherwise you would have come in your housedress.

“What can I get you?” the bartender asks. He ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair.

You look behind the bar and don’t see anything you recognize. You shrug, “I don’t know. What do you think?”

He smiles, “Your first time here huh?”

You nod.

“I’m Sam,” he pours you a mixture of liquids and sets it in front of you.

You take a sip and find it makes your throat warm. You smile back, “I’m Brittany.”

He opens his mouth to tell you something, but the lights dim. You turn around and see a spotlight on the stage. Sam says, “I think you’re going to love this.” He lets out a whistle and then leans on the bar behind you to watch.

A woman steps out in a stunning red dress that sparkles in the light. You feel your mouth grow dry. Her dress hugs her slight curves and her hair is wavy and beautiful. Her tan skin glows in the light. She steps up to the microphone as the man behind the piano starts playing.

She doesn’t say anything. She just starts singing and you’re floored. Out of the lips, adorned with the most sultry shade of red lipstick you’ve ever seen, came the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard.

I fell in love with a dream  
A thrilling and beautiful dream  
And darling, that beautiful dream is you

The way her hips swing with the music and the way her fingers barely graze the side of the microphone leave you breathless.

I fell in love with a song  
A haunting and wonderful song  
And sweetheart, that wonderful song is you

You feel like she’s looking right at you as she sings. You feel yourself being drawn to her. You want to go up to her and just… you want to touch her. Just to make sure that this vision of perfection, singing to you from the tiny stage is real.

I saw you there so real and fair  
I couldn’t believe my eyes  
But when you smile my heart went wild for you were a sweet surprise

I fell in love with a dream  
A thrilling and beautiful dream  
And darling, that beautiful dream is you

When the song is over, you clap with everyone else. She disappears behind the curtains without so much as a bow. You continue to look at the curtain, mesmerized by what just happened in front of you.

“She’s something else huh?” Sam asks.

You turn around to look at him and numbly nod. You look down at your drink and quickly finish it off. You signal for another.

“Can I get a whiskey?” you hear from next to you. You smell the enticing perfume before you to find the beautiful siren next to you.

Smoke float from the tip of her cigarette that is carefully placed in the end of a long, elegant cigarette holder. Sam walks behind the bar and returns with a short glass of amber liquid, sliding it to the singer. Sam leans on the bar, “You were flawless.”

The woman smiles and casts a sideways glance at you. It only lasts for a moment but you feel your heart stop. “Thanks.”

“Santana,” Sam says and looks at you, “This is Brittany. It’s her first time here.”

You momentarily panic when the woman turns in her seat toward you and smiles, “I’m glad you came out tonight. It’s been a week since we’ve been raided so they won’t be back for a while.”

“You get raided?” you ask. You feel like you should be nervous that you’re going to get caught in a gay speakeasy when the alcohol you’re drinking isn’t even legal, but you find yourself concerned for the woman sitting next to you. Her frame is thin and you’re scared that someone could easily hurt her.

She grins, “Well, the cops know it’s a gay bar and owned by a woman, a Puerto Rican woman, but they can’t bust us for that.” Then she winks at Sam, “But they never catch us with booze do they Sam?”

Sam shakes his head and smiles back, “Never.”

She takes a sip of her whiskey and turns back to you, “We’re not scaring you are we? It’s mostly really calm here. Sam and I are the only ones that ever get arrested and it’s never for long because they can’t prove anything.”

You shake your head, “No you’re not scaring me.” You twirl your drink in your hand, “Do you own this place?”

Santana looks around and nods. “It’s not much, but it’s mine and they can’t take it away.”

“It’s really nice,” you tell her. “I was nervous to come here at first, but it’s…cozy.”

She smiles widely at you, “Thank you Brittany. I don’t want anyone to be scared to be who they are here.” She takes a long drag of her cigarette and then blows the smoke out away from you. She studies you for a minute and then turns to Sam, “Whatever she drinks tonight is on the house.”

“Oh you don’t have to do that,” you tell her, but she just smiles.

“Don’t worry about it,” she says, “It’s your first time here. I want it to be great experience.”

The liquor is making you bold so you turn to her, “It’s already great.”

She chuckles, “Oh yeah?”

You nod. “Great music,” you turn more to her, “Great company.”

She leans forward with a seductive smile on her lips. “I have to go sing now, but I guess you’ll just have to stick around to keep enjoying the company.”

You nod and match her smile, “I’ll be here.”

After her next song, she comes back to the bar and sits next to you. She smiles at your again, almost bashfully this time.

“Santana,” you say.

She turns to you and finishes her cigarette, tossing it into the trashcan behind the bar. She reaches behind the bar and pulls out a silver cigarette case. You use the opportunity to check out her ass. When she sits down you blush even though she never caught you.

“Do you want one?” she offers you the open case.

You shake your head, “I’ve never smoked before.”

She places one in the end of her holder and smirks, “It’s probably a good thing. I’m sure that someday they’re going to tell us that these things are bad for us.”

You’re trying to muster up the courage to say what you really want to say to Santana. Finally after you finish your second drink, you decide it’s now or never. “Do you want to dance?”

She looks at you like she’s surprised, but eventually nods slowly. “Sure.”

You offer your hand to her and lead her to the small dance floor that’s dim and off to the corner. You take the lead because it just feels right. You put your hand on the small of her back and take her hand. Finally feeling her skin on yours is intoxicating.

You feel her fingers softly stroke the back of your neck. Then she rests her head on your shoulder as you sway. Your feet barely move across the floor, but you’re turning on the dance floor. You decide to take this bold thing a step farther and kiss her head because no matter how nervous you are, something feels so right about they way you’re holding her.

She looks up at you and you can see vulnerability in her eyes. It’s like when she was talking to you before at the bar, she was hiding something, but now when she looks at you the curtains are drawn back. She pulls you down into a kiss that sets your whole body on fire.

She pulls away and you rest your forehead on hers. She tilts her head up like she’s going to kiss you again, but then pulls back away. She looks up at you through her lashes. “You seem really nice,” she takes a deep breath, “Which is why you probably shouldn’t get involved with me.”

You look at her and give her a smile. “I think I should though.”

She seems unsure, “Are you sure? There’s a lot of other good looking dolls in here.”

“I didn’t notice,” you tell her. “I only saw one.”

“You’re a charmer,” she let’s out a smile. “How about this? We’ll have tonight and if you want to come back, you come back. If not … no one gets hurt that way.”

You can tell that she’s been hurt. You can see it in her eyes and you kiss her lightly on the lips, “We’ll have tonight. And we’ll have all the other nights too.”


	2. Chapter 2

You can’t stop thinking about Santana. You danced with her all night last night. She still seemed guarded, but when you left, you kissed her and told her that you’d see her again. Even if she didn’t seem like she’d believe you, you’re going to prove to her that she can stop being guarded around you.

There’s just something about her that makes you want to get to know her – everything about her.

Your alarm goes off before you’re ready for it. You didn’t mean to stay out so late, but you couldn’t seem to tear yourself away. You smile into your pillow. You’re smitten already.

It doesn’t take you long to get dressed and downstairs to open up the shop. You grab the stack of newspapers from outside and bring them in. Your dad will be here any minute to start cooking. You start the coffee and then go back into the kitchen to start mixing up the eggs for the breakfast rush. Then you throw some bread into the toaster and get the bacon out. You start the biscuits to cooking and when you hear the front door open, you smile when your dad walks in with one of your regulars.

“Good morning Brittany,” Carl smiles at you.

“Good morning Dr. Howell,” you smile back. “The usual?”

Carl nods and sits at the table, “Please.”

You get him a cup of coffee and one of the newspapers that you brought in while your dad goes to the kitchen to start Carl’s breakfast.

The regulars start trickling in and you start to get busy. But you can’t stop thinking about Santana the whole time. You stare at the door and wish she’d come in. She never has before and there’s no reason for her to now. She doesn’t even know you have a job or your last name.

“Hey Brittany,” Dave says as he walks in, removing his police hat.

“Hi Dave,” you smile brightly at him.

When you bring him coffee, he looks up at you, “When are you going to let me take you out?”

You just smile at him, “I don’t know.” Then you walk back to the kitchen like you always do every time he asks you out.

When the breakfast rush is over, you helps your dad do the dishes. He smiles, “You look happy.”

“It’s a good day,” you tell him.

He takes you at your word and you both sing and dance along to the radio until the lunch rush. When lunch is over you close up and say goodbye to your dad. You promise to go to come over for dinner, but first you have something to do.

You’re not sure that anyone will be there, but you’re going to try anyway.

When you get to the club you find the door open. You stick your head inside and see someone standing on a ladder. You can’t see their head because it’s stuck in a hole through the ceiling. You assume that it’s Sam because the tan pants are dusty and streaked with grease.

“Hey Sam,” you call up to him, “Is Santana around?”

Sam steps down the ladder and out of the hole and you see that Sam isn’t Sam. It’s Santana. She smiles at you, “Sam’s not here.”

You blush heavily, “Sorry. I thought… you were wearing pants.”

She climbs down the ladder and dusts her hands off, “I like pants. They’re easier for working around the club.”

“That makes sense,” you rub your hands against the bright yellow skirt you’re wearing.

She leans on the ladder and smiles at you, “You came back.”

“I told you I would,” you tell her.

She licks her lips and looks you over. “Well, I have to finish fixing this light up here. Then we can…have lunch?”

You’ve already had lunch, but nod away. “Sure.”

“Great. It kinda makes me wish that I knew what I was doing,” she grins and starts going up the ladder.

“I,” you say and she stops, “I helped my dad rewire the diner. I think I can help.”

“Really?” she asks, coming back down.

You nod, “It was fun.” You look down at your dress. “Well, do you have any extra pants.”

She moves to the bar and hops over with ease. Then she bends down. She pulls another pair of pants and hops back over.

“Do you live here?” you ask her with a smile.

She shrugs, “Sometimes.” She hands you the pants.

As you modestly pull them on under your dress, you ask, “Really? Where do you sleep?”

“There’s a couch in the back,” she shrugs, “Sometimes I crash as Sam’s.”

You button up your pants and frown, “You don’t have your own place?”

“This is my place,” she says. “I haven’t had the best luck with landlords and don’t have enough money to buy my own place.”

“Oh,” you nod understandingly and start to make your way up the ladder.

You easily fix the problem. It was fairly simple, something that your dad had taught you to do because sometimes his back goes out and things need to be done at the diner. He didn’t have any sons. He just had you and he never treated you like less than because you’re a girl.

When you climb down the ladder, Santana flips the breaker and you both see the chandelier in the middle of the room come on. She hugs you around your waist and says, “My hero.”

You hold her around the shoulders and then let her go. You modestly take off the pants you’re wearing and fold them back up. “I’m pretty sure they’re still clean.”

She smiles, “It doesn’t matter.” She takes them and places them on the bar. “Ready for lunch? There are a couple of good places around here that are… friendly.”

You understand what she means. She may be known around the town as a…. So she doesn’t want to take you anywhere where someone would be mean to you because you’re with her.

“I know a friendlier place,” you tell her.

She raises her eyebrows at you, “You do?”

You nod. “C’mon.”

“I have to change,” she says looking down at her white button down shirt and her long tan pants.

You shake your head, “No you don’t.”

She licks her lips, “I can’t do outside like this. It’s bad enough that most people hate me. I don’t need to give them another reason.”

You nod respectfully. It hurts your heart that people hate her without getting to know her. You wait for her to change in the back before you both walk outside.

When you get to the diner, you unlock the door. She looks around and runs her fingers over one of the table tops, “This is beautiful.”

You smile proudly, “It’s my family’s. I live upstairs.”

“Do your parents live up there too?” she asks.

You shake your head, “They live in a house a few miles away.”

Santana smiles proudly at you and gestures to the diner all around herself, “So this is all yours.”

“When my dad’s not here,” you smile at her. Then you walk around the counter. “What would you like?”

“I can’t ask you to cook for me,” she shakes her head. “You already fixed the lights in my club.”

You lean on the counter, “I want to. I make the best patty melts this side of the Hudson. I can make you one of those with an egg cream and some of my mom’s apple pie for dessert.”

She smiles, “Why do I have the feeling I’m going to start gaining weight around you?”

You just laugh and start making her egg cream. When you’re done with it, you place a straw in it and slide it to her. Then you walk back into the kitchen. She follows you and sits on the counter next to you while you start cooking, sipping on your drink. “This is great.”

“Before I started working here, my dad took me to every diner around the city so I could see what I should and shouldn’t do,” you explain while you flip the patty on the grill and get out the cheese. Then you butter some bread to toast while you talk, “There was this guy in Brooklyn who talked me into getting an egg cream and I loved it so much he taught me how to make it. Then I got Daddy to put in a soda fountain and we sell egg creams all day. There’s this one fella who drinks one with breakfast every morning.” You look over at her and see her looking at you with a faint smile on her face. Like she thinks you’re the cutest thing in the world.

You blush, “Was I talking too much?”

“No,” she shakes her head, her beautiful hair rippling with every movement, “I just like listening to you tell me about yourself.”

You blush even harder and smile, “Thanks Santana.”

You finish her food and put it on a plate for her. She asks you if you’re going to eat and you tell her that you had lunch before you went to see her. She offers you half of her sandwich anyway. You politely decline, but make yourself an egg cream.

You both sit down in one of the booths near the back of the diner. She pauses her eating and looks at you, “I’m so glad you came back.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” you ask her. You have no idea why anyone would ever want to leave her and never come back. You watch her gather her words and sip your drink.

“It’s not easy being… with me,” she says softly.

You tuck some of her hair behind her ear. “I don’t need easy.”

She looks down and then back up at you. Again she looks vulnerable and you just want to protect her. “I’m so glad you came into my club last night,” she smiles softly.

You smile back, “Me too.” She’s almost done with her sandwich, “Do you want some pie now?”

“Oh goodness no,” she shake her head, “This was usually more than I have for supper every night.”

That worries you. You don’t say anything though. You just take her plate to the kitchen and put it in the sink. She carries your glasses behind you and rinses them out even though you tell her she doesn’t have to.

“Do you…” you pause because you know what happens when girls invite people upstairs. You’re a good girl. You’ve never thought about doing anything like that before, but you really like Santana and you trust her, “Do you want to come upstairs?”

She looks up at the clock on the wall, “I actually have to go set up for the club opening tonight, but… do I get to see you again?”

You nod with a smile, “Of course.”

“Do you need help setting up?” you ask her.

She shakes her head, “The less you know about how the club runs, the better off you’ll be.”

You nod. You have to cover your mouth when you yawn. “Why don’t I come to the club tonight?”

“You’re tired,” she says softly and takes your hand. “We can see each other tomorrow.”

You really want to see her sing tonight, but you’re so tired. “Will you sing to me later then?”

She beams. “You really want that?”

You nod. “Of course. Your voice is beautiful.”

She surprises you with a kiss. You’ve only ever kissed one person before. A boy that you went to high school with and that was nothing compared to how Santana kisses. She makes your whole body feel tingly and you get a strange feeling below your waist that you’ve never felt before.

“Why don’t you come over when you wake up?” she asks. “I’ll be at the club.”

You nod, “I’ll be there.”

She kisses you again before leaving. You watch her leave and then lock the door behind her. You go to your parents’ house for quick dinner before going home.

You walk up the stairs that are hidden in the storage room up to your apartment and fall on your bed with a content sigh. You didn’t realize how tired you were until you fell onto your bed. But at least you can go to sleep knowing that tomorrow you get to see Santana.


	3. Chapter 3

You wake up before your alarm, but only by a few minutes. You get ready and head downstairs again. After you get the paper and start getting ready, you hear the front door open.

You smile and walk to the counter, “Hey Daddy, you’re earl-” You stop and your smile widens. You round the counter and walk over to Santana, sweeping her up in your arms, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I can’t stay for long,” she says. “I’m exhausted. I haven’t been to bed yet.”

You rub her arm, “How about you stay for breakfast and then you can go upstairs and sleep?”

“I couldn’t impose,” she shakes her head.

“When was the last time you slept in a bed?” you ask her softly.

She shrugs. “I don’t remember.”

“You’ll stay here,” you tell her. “I’ll be working so no one will bother you.”

You sit her down at the counter and get her a glass of orange juice as your dad walks in with three men.

They all sit down and things settle into business as usual. The men all talk about baseball and some guy named Babe who hits something all the time. Santana sits quietly and eats her food at the end of the counter.

She pays in cash and thanks you. She stands up to leave, but you stop her with the look. She eyes the men sitting at the counter and shakes her head and says in a low voice, “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

You look at the men as well. You set down the coffee in your hand. “There’s another door to my apartment in the alley. I’ll unlock it for you. Please.” You plead with her and she gives in. She walks out of the diner and you tell your dad that you spilled coffee on yourself to you have to change and run up the stairs.

Then you run down the stairs on the other side and unlock the door. Santana’s standing outside and slips inside. She closes and locks the door. “This is a dangerous game Brittany.”

“What game?” you ask, taking her hand and pulling her up the stairs.

“Sneaking around with me,” she says.

You shake your head, “I’m not sneaking around with you. I would have let you go you the kitchen stairs if you would have let me.”

You pull her into the small room that’s your apartment. There’s a small kitchen and a refrigerator that you’re extremely proud of. You don’t know many people that have one. The man that sold your dad the one for the diner threw in this one because your dad is such a good customer.

You give Santana a nightgown and show her where the bathroom is. “You can take a shower if you want. The bathtub is nice too.”

“I think I’m just going to go to sleep,” she eyes your bed. You get a little self-conscious. In a time where most people are trying to make the most out of the little that they have, your bed is lager than it needs to be. It was your parents’ bed for a few weeks, but it hurt your dad’s back. They couldn’t take it back because they’d already used it so they gave it to you.

You turn it down for her and watch her crawl into it. You cover her up and bend down to kiss her forehead, “Sweet dreams.”

“Thank you Brittany,” she smiles up at you.

“I’ll be up after I close up,” you tell her, “If you get hungry, there’s food in the electric refrigerator and the cabinet. If you want something else, you can come downstairs.”

“I’ll be okay,” she tells you.

You kiss her forehead again and go back downstairs. Your mind stays on the woman upstairs in your bed. When you’re finally done, you lock up and tell your dad that you’re tired and you may not make it to dinner tonight. He tells you to get some rest and call your mother later so she doesn’t worry.

When you get up to your bedroom, you find Santana still sound asleep. You set your alarm for an hour before her club opens and crawl into bed behind her. You’re not sure if she’ll be receptive to this, but you can’t resist. At first you just lay there, looking at the back of her head, but soon you can’t stop yourself. You touch her back and then rest your hand on her side. You figure that you’ve pushed it enough so you close your eyes and let yourself drift off to sleep.

You’re awakened by your alarm. You feel movement in the bed next to you as you stretch. You yawn and look over at Santana who is sleepily looking at you. “Hey.”

You smile, “Hey.”

“I haven’t slept that well in a long time,” she says softly.

You brush her hair out of her face, “You’re welcome to sleep here any time.”

She rolls onto her back and looks at the clock, “I have to go.”

“Can I go with you?” you ask her.

She smiles, “You’re an independent woman. You can do what you want and I can’t stop you.”

You giggle and steal a kiss before getting out of bed to get dressed. You wait until Santana is in the bathroom to get dressed to get dressed. However, she comes out quicker than you expect. “Do you mind if I….” She trails off when she sees you. You’re only in your underwear, but you feel naked as she stares. You grab a pillow off of the bed to cover yourself and Santana quickly averts her eyes, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s… okay,” you feel your face become flushed and your mouth go dry. Your heart is racing and that weird feeling between your legs is back. You don’t know what this is, but you can’t say that it’s bad.

She shields her eyes with her hand, “Do you mind if I take a shower?”

“I don’t mind,” you tell her and look down at the pillow. Your knuckles are white.

She doesn’t look at you when she retreats into the bathroom and you fall onto the bed with the pillow still clenched in your fists.

You pull on your dress and brush out your hair. It’s going to be straight tonight even if you don’t want it to be. When you hear the shower turn off, you remember that Santana doesn’t have anything clean to wear. You root around in your closet and find her a dress worthy of her club. You’re glad that all of your cousins have gotten married because your mom makes or buys you a new dress for each one.

You pick one out for Santana, one that you’re sure will go with her beautiful skin and exotic hair. You wait at the door and when she opens it a crack you hand her the dress. She smiles, “Thanks.” She closes the door.

You smile and sit on your bed, patiently waiting for her. When she steps out, she’s beautiful as ever. Even though her hair is still partially wet, she’s gorgeous.

Walking to the club is uneventful. You open the door for her and find that Sam is already inside, stocking the bar. He grins when he sees you, “Good evening ladies.”

You smile and start helping him while Santana messes with some things on the stage.

“So you and Santana came in together,” Sam says like it’s supposed to mean something.

You nod. “Yeah.”

“Did she spend the say with you?” he asks, “She’s usually here when I get here.”

You nod, “She slept in my bed while I was at work.” You put the last of the glasses under the counter.

“You have a job?” he asks surprised. When you look at him he stutters, “Not that women shouldn’t work if they want to I….” He sighs. “Where do you work?”

“Peach Street Diner,” you tell him.

“Oh, I’ve never been there, but one of the regulars here says that they have the best apple pie there,” he offers.

You find it weird to think that someone that has been here, has been where you work. Where your parents work. “My mom makes those.”

Sam smiles, “That sounds delicious. Do you think it would be okay if I came in some time and tried it?”

You smile wide, “Of course. My dad makes great fried steak too.”

Sam sets a case of liquor on the counter and starts moving them into the cabinets behind the bar, “I’ll definitely be stopping by then.”

“Stopping by where?” Santana asks. She has a cigarette in the hold and is slowly smoking it.

“The diner,” you tell her and walk around the bar. She seems to have slipped back into her elegant singer mode. But she hasn’t left the sweet, shy Santana behind. She slips her arm around your waist and just rests it there.

“Brittany makes the best drink,” Santana tells Sam. “It’s called a….”

“Egg cream,” you tell Sam.

Sam chuckles, “I love those. I used to live in Brooklyn. I’ll be camped out at your counter when I get off of work.”

You put your arm around Santana’s shoulders. You brush the hair to one side of her and across her shoulder. She looks up at you and you see a flash of vulnerability again. You tilt your head down and kiss her.

You feel her hand across your back pull you against her. That feeling appears again, but you don’t stop kissing her because you don’t want to. Kissing her feels good. It feels so right.

The front door opening rips you away from Santana. She looks up and looks relieved to see some of her usual crowd start to walk in.

You stay at the club the entire night until she closes down at two. You get to watch her sing an entire set of songs and every time you’re enamored with her.

When the club is closed, Sam goes home and Santana sits at one of the tables looking at you. “Are you going home?”

You sit down at the table across from her. You smile, “Should I?”

“If you want,” she says. You can feel the top of her foot rubbing against your calf.

You lean back in the chair, “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “I’m getting hungry.”

“We can go back to the diner,” you offer. “I can make you something.”

She shakes her head, “I can’t always have you cooking for me.”

You smile, “I like to.”

Santana takes a deep breath, “Next time, I get to take you out to supper okay?”

That thought excites you. A real date with Santana.

She goes to change so that she can give you your dress back. It’s late enough so she doesn’t fear for your safety if she wears pants. You like it when she wears them. It’s so different that you usually see, but they look so right on her.

As you walk to the diner, you see some people walking around. You walk closer to Santana, watching them carefully.

“They’re just like us,” she takes your hand to reassure you, “There aren’t many places to eat this late. Arnie’s is the best we have and it’s pretty disgusting.”

That makes you think. Your diner is swamped in the mornings because you have the best breakfast and lunch in the city. You can’t imagine what it would be like if it was open now. All the people from the club and the people that have to wake up before you do coming in. It would easily cover the costs it would take to run at night.

You and Santana have simple sandwiches and apple pie for dessert. She tells you about how she came into possession of the club and how sometimes she has to tell people that Sam owns it just to make things easier.

“Did you always like to sing?” you ask her.

Santana smiles, “I always sang. My whole life. My mom did laundry and was a seamstress and she would sing the whole time. When I’d help her we’d sing together. I never thought about performing thought until I went to Chicago. I met this cool cat there named Ella. When she sings everyone shuts up. She’s the best singer I’ve ever heard. She let me copy her music and it’s mostly what I sing in the club. She sends me postcards sometimes.”

You feel a little jealous that Santana is so enchanted by this Ella woman. You try to hide it, but apparently you’re not very good at it.

“She’s like my big sister,” Santana adds. You know she’s pretending like she doesn’t see how jealous you are.

You nod and take a sip of your water. “That’s nice. Do you travel a lot?”

“Only for work,” Santana states. You know she’s not going to tell you much else because she doesn’t want you to know. You know she’s protecting you, but that doesn’t stop your curiosity.

She helps you do the dishes and as you’re wrist deep in dishwater you ask, “You said that your mom used to do laundry. What does she do now?”

“Not a whole lot I don’t think,” Santana says, “She doesn’t have to work anymore. I bought my parents a house upstate. She gardens and works when she gets bored. My dad helped a friend start a restaurant and my uncle open up a clothing store. So my dad spends most of his time playing dominoes and helping Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants find places to live in the city.”

Working in the diner, in the city, you’ve been around all kinds of people. Even if that majority of them were old white guys, you’ve met your fair share of not white people. You’re never sure how to classify them or even if you should. Your dad always taught you that people are people and those people are good people if they pay in cash.

“Can you speak Puerto Rican?” you ask her as you dry your hands.

She smiles, “Puerto Ricans speak Spanish.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” you blush. Meeting Santana has shown you that you don’t know as much as you thought you did. There’s no black and white anymore. Santana has introduced you to the grey.

She takes your hand and gently swings it between you, “It’s okay. And yes, I can speak Spanish.”

“Can you teach me?” you ask her.

She grins, “Why do you want to learn Spanish?”

You shrug and decide to tell the truth, “So I have an excuse to spend more time with you.”

A slight pink tint rises up on her cheeks. She wraps her arms around your neck and hugs you, “You don’t need an excuse.”

You hold her as tightly to you as you can. You bury your nose in her neck and just hold her against you, knowing that she is someone important. More important than you can ever know.

She utters something to you that sounds beautiful and foreign. You know it’s Spanish, but you don’t have a clue what it means. You pull away and look at her, “What does that mean?”

“You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met,” she tells you softly, like it’s a secret.

It’s the most beautiful secret you’ve ever heard. You kiss her. This time it’s not the kind of kisses you usually see. Just the pressing of lips together. The kiss is like fire. It’s so beautiful and so dangerous that you can’t stop yourself. You feel your lips slide against hers and her jaw move to keep the kiss going, not wanting to let it end.

 You don’t want it to either. You keep pulling her to you, trying to get her closer. Part of you is scared to hurt her, but part of you never wants to let her go. She’ll never be close enough. You’ve never felt like this before. You feel… hungry for her.

 She backs you up against the refrigerator and you feel your back hit it. You can’t stop touching her and you want to touch her skin, feel her warm, soft skin under your fingers.

You untuck her shirt from her pants, but you hesitate to touch the skin you’re seeking. You pull away and look at her. Her lips are slightly swollen from the intensity of the kiss. You swallow.  The look in her eyes matches the feeling in the back of your stomach.

She pushes her hand into your hair and then kisses you softly. You pull her into the storage room and up the stairs. She goes with you and when you sit on the bed she hesitates.

You stand back up and hold her by the front of her shirt. You kiss her again. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re not ready,” she says and shakes her head.

You frown and pull away. You didn’t think about where this was going. You don’t know if you’re ready or not. You don’t know what ready feels like. You don’t even know what would happen if you did let it go that far. You know you’re naïve in the world of …..love making. You just know that you want Santana. You want all of her.

“We can,” you hold her eyes that look scared. Your fearless girl isn’t so fearless right now. You think it’s another beautiful side of her. “We can just lay here. I just want to touch you.”

She smiles at you again. It’s still a bashful smile, but also a smile that lets you know that she feels safe with you. That’s all you could ever ask for. This time when you sit on the bed, she walks to the other side and lays down next to you.

With your head on the same pillow, you kiss her softly. You kiss her like she’s your world because very quickly she is becoming your world. She pulls away when you unbutton the bottom button of her shirt. Her fingers wrap around your shirt and you kiss her. You whisper, “I just want to touch you.”

Her fingers loosen and when your fingers slip under her shirt and meet the warm skin under it, you both inhale. Santana’s eyes flutter closed and you just lay your hand on her side and kiss her.

You love the feel of her skin. You get brave and stroke her skin with your thumb. You can feel her inhale and exhale under your hand. You don’t know why you’ve never kissed anyone else before. This is amazing, although you’re not sure you’d get the same result with anyone, but Santana.

You can feel her fingers rest on your cheek as she kisses you. They slide back and down to the back of your neck pulling you closer. You feel like you could kiss her forever. You’d give up food and everything outside of this bed to just be able to kiss her like this forever.

She breaks the kiss. You don’t know how long you’ve been kissing her, but when you look at her, it takes your eyes a while to adjust to the dark. You can see her eyes and not much else. She just looks at you. She strokes your jaw with her thumb. Then she wraps her arms around you, pulling your body against hers.

You figure that that means it’s time for you to go to sleep. You’re okay with that because you have to wake up and open the diner in the morning. You settle your head on her shoulder and close your eyes. She kisses your forehead, “Sweet dreams Brittany.”


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, you’re downstairs wiping down the counters. It’s the lull between breakfast and lunch so you walk to the pass through window. “Daddy?”

He appears in the window with a smile on his face, “Yes?”

You take a deep breath, “I’ve been thinking,” you pause. “I couldn’t sleep last night and was looking out my window. Some of the factory fellas that come off of the night shift don’t have anywhere to eat when they get off. I don’t think we should open for supper, but opening at midnight would be nice for them.”

He leans on the window and thinks for a moment. “You’re right honey, but I can barely handle cooking in the mornings.”

You bite your lip. “I could cook. You know I can.”

“Who is going to serve?” he asks.

You take a deep breath, “I could get one of my friends to do it.”

He takes a deep breath. “Well, if you think it’s a good idea, I think you should try it. You were right about the egg creams and the potato chips. Whenever you decide to do it, we’ll go over the numbers together afterwards and see if we want to keep opening that early.”

You walk into the door of the kitchen and hug him, “Thank you Daddy.” You know that some of your friends’ parents aren’t as supportive of their daughters’ ideas.

He puts his arm around your shoulders. “You’re welcome.”

You run upstairs to use the bathroom and you find your bed empty. You look around and then check the alley door. The alley door is locked. Santana couldn’t have left out of that door because the key to lock that door is on your bedside table. You look back inside and find that your window is closed, but unlocked. You smile and know that she went down the fire escape.

You find a note on your bed, written on stationary, your mother gave you when you moved into the apartment: _I hope to see you tonight, but I understand if you want to sleep. I’ll see you when I see you._

Then she signed it with a heart and then her name. You smile and place it in the drawer of your nightstand. She will definitely be seeing you tonight.

After the lunch crowd, you say goodbye to your father and go upstairs to take a nap. You wake up a little before midnight and get dressed.

When you walk into the club, Santana is on the stage singing. You see Sam behind the bar and he nods to you. You nod back and sit down. You wave off his offer of a drink and ask him if he needs help. There are a lot more people here than usual.

He nod, “I actually do. One of the other clubs across town got raided. It’ll take them a little while to get back on their feet.”

You walk behind the bar and watch Sam for a moment. He leans over and tells you, “Santana doesn’t want you around the hooch so you can get the waters and the juices.”

You nod, “Okay. So like the diner?”

He laughs and nods, “Just like that.”

You run up and down the bar helping people out. A few women ask about Santana and you just smile and tell them her name. When she comes to the bar, Santana smiles at you. She sits down and lights a cigarette. One of the women sits down next to her and asks if she can buy Santana a drink. She smiles kindly at the woman and thanks her, but politely declines.

“Are you seeing someone else?” the woman asks.

Santana’s eyes move to you and she smiles widely, “Yeah, something like that.”

The woman follows Santana’s eyes to you and the woman chuckles, “You could have told me she was your girlfriend.”

You smile back, “Sorry.”

The woman leaves to go talk to some other women. Santana leans over the bar and kisses you. She watches you for a moment before looking to Sam.

Sam puts his hands up, “She hasn’t touched any booze, I swear.”

“I haven’t,” you tell Santana.

You smile hand a man his water and then turn to Santana. But you look back at the man and your eyes widen, “Dave?”

He looks around and stutters, “I – um – I…”

“You two know each other Karofsky?” Santana asks, taking a long drag of her cigarette.

He looks away and nods, “Yeah.” He’s not in her police uniform and that’s why you didn’t recognize him immediately.

“I won’t tell anyone,” you promise, knowing that that’s why he’s freaking out. He’s a gay policeman. It’s a huge risk for him to be here.

He forces a smile, “Um, thanks.”

“I’m gonna open up the diner tonight after the club closes if you want to come have your usual,” you offer as an olive branch.

He fully grins and nods, “I’m so glad you’re going to be open. I’m always so hungry when I leave.”

Sam snorts and Santana chuckles quietly. You don’t get it so you just smile at Dave. “I can’t wait to see you there.”

He walks off. Santana turns to you, “You’re opening up tonight?”

You nod, “My dad said that if I think it’s a good idea, I can try it.”

“Are your parents going to be there?” Santana asks.

You shake your head, “Just me.”

“You’re going to do everything by yourself?” he asks.

Santana smiles, “Well you don’t have to do anything by yourself. I’ll be there.”

“You don’t have to,” you say and tilt your head, leaning on the bar across from her.

“You’re working here and you’ve been letting me sleep at your place,” she smiles at you, “It’s the least I can do.”

You leave from the club a little early to start getting ready at the diner. Apparently Santana made an announcement at the club because a lot of the people from the club come over and when the swing shift is over at the factories, a lot of the workers come in. There are even a few people that look like they just got out of seeing one of those shows on Broadway. Santana arrives just in time, dressed in a modest dress. She immediately starts taking orders and refilling drinks. She only has to ask once how to make the coffee and continues to do it without you having to tell her again.

When there’s another lull, you and Santana are the only ones in the diner. She leans on the counter, “Is it usually that crowded?”

You grin, “Yes. I’m glad it worked.”

“Me too,” she smiles at you. “Do you want me to lock the door?”

“I want you to go to bed,” you tell her. She looks tired. “I’ll lock up and be right up.”

“Can I use your shower?” she asks. “Waiting tables works up a sweat.”

You nod, “Of course. I’ll be up after I lock up. I’ll go over the books real quick too.”

She agrees and disappears into the kitchen to get to the storage. You can hear her walk up the stairs and then you hear a few boards creak as she gets to the shower.

You lock the door and pull out the ledger from under the counter. You count the money in the cash register and write it in the ledger. It’s actually a great night or morning. You’re just glad that you don’t have to wake up early tomorrow to open up. Your dad keeps a strict no opening on Sunday rule. You did open up at midnight Sunday, but it doesn’t really count because the sun’s not up yet.

You close everything down and put the cash in the safe in the storage room before making your way upstairs.

When you step into your apartment, you see Santana standing in the middle of the bedroom wrapped in a towel. She’s has one of your nightgowns in her hand.

You look away again and she chuckles. She kisses your cheek as she scurries back into the bathroom. When she comes out, she’s changed into the nightgown. You hop into the shower and hurry so that you can get into bed with Santana.

When you get into the bed, Santana puts her arms around you. You just want to kiss her so you do. She hums into it and nuzzles into your neck. She places a soft kiss on your neck. You moan without being able to stop yourself.

She smiles at you and leans back, turning off the lamp. She holds you against her, “Thank you for letting me stay here.”

You snuggle into her. You’ve never really slept in a bed with anyone else before, but you don’t find it hard to share it with her at all.

You tilt your head up and kiss her lips. “Thank you for helping me.”

She kisses your forehead and wishes you a good night. You don’t see how you could have anything, but that when you’re with her.


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey do you want to go somewhere with me?” Santana asks you. You’ve only been awake for a few minutes and you’ve spend it kissing Santana lazily in the morning sun.

You’re so glad you have Sundays off. You love just spending time with Santana. “Yes.”

She gets up out of the bed and gets dressed. You get dressed as well. You walk a few blocks and then get on a bus. This is the farthest you’ve ever been from Manhattan, but you trust Santana. You sit next to each other the whole way out and after a few stops you get out.

“Where are we?” you ask her as you follow her down the streets.

She smiles, “The Bronx. This is where I grew up.”

You feel a smile cross your face and feel privileged that she brings you out here to show you where she’s from.

Santana asks, “Are you hungry?”

You think about it for a moment before nodding, “Yeah.”

Santana turns the corner and you follow her into a small restaurant. The inside is painted in bright colors and the tables are small and close together. It’s about the opposite of your diner in every way you can think of.

Santana pulls your chair out for you and you sit down. She sits down across from you and a waiter comes over to you. He and Santana have a short discussion in Spanish and then he walks off.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Santana leans on the table close to you, “I ordered for you.”

You smile at her and shrug, “I don’t care. I honestly wouldn’t know what to order here anyway.”

The waiter returned with two bottles of Coca-Cola already open with straws in them. After your first sip, a woman walks up to your table. She has long black hair that’s braided to the side. She says something in Spanish and Santana looks at her. Santana smiles widely and stands up. They kiss on both cheeks and then Santana motions for her to sit down.

“Brittany,” Santana says to you, “This is my friend Tatiana. We grew up in the same building.”

You smile at her and are surprised when she kisses both of your cheeks. You do the same and Tatiana joins you at the small table.

The waiter comes back with a single plate. You’re not sure what it is, but it looks like fried bananas.

“You’re giving her a tour through Columbia cuisine?” Tatiana asks Santana.

Santana nods. “We’re going slow though. No animal organs or insects.”

Your eyes widen. You didn’t know that people ate that. They laugh together at your reaction and Santana picks up her fork. “Here,” she spears one slice and offers it to you. “It’s aborrajado.” The way it rolls off of her talented tongue makes it sound so sexy and because of that you’d eat anything she gives you.

You take the small round slice and watch her smile while she pulls back the fork. Tatiana uses a fork to get one and Santana eats one as well. It’s definitely different that what you usually eat, but it’s good.

“That’s not a banana,” you say.

“It’s a plantain,” Tatiana explains, waving her fork around.

Santana moans, “Con queso.”

“And deep fried,” Tatiana adds.

“Queso?” you ask the pair.

Santana offers you the fork and you take it. “Queso means cheese. Con means with.”

“Con queso,” you repeat and take another bite. “This is so good.”

Tatiana calls to the waiter and he brings her a soda. She taps the bottle and hums, “I’m trying to think of the most embarrassing story I can think of from Santana’s childhood.”

Santana widens her eyes and warns her friends, “No. Or I’ll tell your mom what you were really doing in the rectory with the communion wine.”

Tatiana rolls her eyes, “You always ruin my fun.”

The waiter comes back with another plate of rectangular somethings that you’ve never seen before. Then everyone gets a plate. Santana serves you and then herself. Tatiana asks Santana where hers is and says something in Spanish. You only catch one word. ‘novia’.

“What’s a novia?” you ask them.

Santana blushes and Tatiana chuckles, “It means girlfriend.”

You smile widely at Santana and pick up your fork. Santana hasn’t officially asked you to be her girlfriend and you don’t think she has to. It just seems so natural.

You watch Santana remove the outside of her food. “The outside is a corn husk. Sometimes it’s a leaf. It just depends on where you are. These are called tamales.”

“Tamales,” you echo and nod. It is once again an amazing food that you are so glad you’re getting to try.

Despite Santana’s threats and various attempts to stop her, Tatiana tells you a few stories about Santana when she was a child. You now know that Santana liked to hide in the dark corner of their apartment building with a sheet over her and scare people. She also fought a bunch of boys when they took away Tatiana’s toy once.

You learned that Santana’s Abuela taught them how to read Spanish and the Irishman that lived down the hallway taught them English. Santana was in remedial reading until second grade because none of the teachers knew how to teach her. The Irishman taught her how to read and she read at a higher level for the rest of her education. You’re not sure exactly how long that was, but it doesn’t matter. Santana is very sharp and so smart.

Santana calls to the waiter and he comes with a kind of custard looking thing. Santana explains patiently to you, “This is flan.”

“Flan,” you say and look at it. It looks amazing.

“It’s mostly eggs,” Santana tells you. “Huevos means eggs.”

You echo her Spanish. “What’s on top of it?”

“Dulce de leche,” Tatiana informs you.

You take a bite and look to Santana who explains it to you. “Dulce de leche means milk candy.”

You quirk an eyebrow, but love the flan.

“I don’t know how to make it,” Santana shrugs, “My mom does though.”

When you finish the food, Santana pays and you both say goodbye to Tatiana who walks the opposite direction.

You follow Santana a few more blocks until you pass under an archway that says ‘Bronx Zoo’. You see animals you’ve never seen before and most of the time you look over at Santana and she’s not looking at the animals. She’s looking at you with a smile on her face.

You see every animal they have and then get back on the bus to Manhattan.

“Thank you so much for taking me to lunch and the zoo,” you tell Santana as she walks you back to your apartment.

“No problem,” she smiles sweetly. “I had fun too.”

When you get to your door, she stops, “I have to go take care of some things for the club.”

You nod. You understand that there’s some things she doesn’t want you to know and that she does that because she’s protecting you. You unlock the door and pull her inside onto the stairs so that you can kiss her and she won’t worry about who is looking.

“I’ll see you later,” she kisses you one last time and walks off.

You don’t even have to ask when. You both know.


	6. Chapter 6

You decide to clean the diner from top to bottom since no one is there today. The kitchen is spotless when you’re done and you move to the dining room. Once all the chairs are moved to the back of the room you get a broom.

There’s a knock on the door and you’re prepared to tell whoever it is that you’re closed, but you smile when you see Sam. You walk over to the door and unlock it, “Hey Sam.”

He hugs you and presents you with a flower, “Santana told me if I was coming over here that I had to bring you something.”

You smile and accept the flower, “Thank you.” You open the door wider for him. “What can I do for you?”

“I came to see if you needed any help,” he asks, “Last night was a madhouse in here.”

You shake your head, “I’m just cleaning a little bit. Not problem.”

He shoves his hands into the pockets of his trousers. “Well, um, if you ever need help or anything, I could be here.”

You try to figure out what he’s saying because you know he’s trying to say something else. You bite your lip and then it hits you, “Oh, um, you know what? My dad really wants me to have a man with me when I open at midnight so maybe you could work with me? We make enough so that I could pay you.”

He hangs his head a little and shakes his head, “I shouldn’t.”

“Why not?” you say, “It would be safer for me.”

He looks at you and asks, “Really?”

You nod and smile, “Of course.”

He hugs you, “Thank you. I, um, I make a lot working with Santana, but my dad was laid off a year ago from the steel mill and my mom just got laid off a couple weeks ago. I have to take care of my family now.”

“I get it,” you touch his shoulder, even though you don’t really get it. As long as you can remember, your family has always been comfortable. You’ve always had what you needed and most things you wanted.

Sam takes the broom from your hand, “So just sweep and then mop?”

You nod. You walk behind the counter, “Do you mind if I turn the radio on?”

He shakes his head, “No, I don’t mind. I like music.”

You flip on the radio and start going through the dishes to make sure they’re clean. You stand up and look over at Sam, “How do you know Santana?”

Sam runs a hand through his hair and keeps sweeping, “A couple years ago, I was going through dumpsters picking out tin cans to take to the dump. The guy there gave me ten cents a pound. It’s not a lot, but everything helped right after my brother and sister were born.” He leans on the broom, “I hopped out of the dumpster and Santana was standing here in trousers and a man’s shirt. I was in the dumpster right outside of the club she just bought. She asked me if I wanted to stop swimming in garbage. I thought she was being rude at first, but she taught me how to mix drinks and stock the bar. She gave me clean clothes to wear until I could afford my own.”

You smile. It’s faint and it’s all because Santana is so kind. She seems really guarded and you know she’s tough, but her heart is really warm and beautiful.

He nods, seeming to know what you’re thinking, “Yeah she’s really great.”

You grin and go back to making sure the silverware looks acceptable. “Does she had a lot of friends?”

Sam shrugs, “She doesn’t really trust people. She has a few friends in the Bronx that she’s known since she was a kid, but in the kind of business she runs, you have to be careful.” Sam smiles and keeps sweeping, “Santana trusts you though.”

You stand up straight and lean on the counter. “Why does she trust me?”

Sam moves one of the tables out of the way. “I, um, you can’t tell her that I told you this, but she told me that she gets this feeling when she’s around you. You’re special to her. She’s not the mushy type, but she gets soft around you.”

You giggle. As far as you know, you’ve never had that effect on anyone. It’s nice to know that someone feels all fluttery around you, like you do around her.

You both work in silence for a while until you look up at the clock, “What time do you need to be at the club?”

Sam looks at the clock on the wall, “Not for another hour. Do you want me to go?”

You shake your head, “I was just wondering. I’m going to go with you if that’s okay.”

He chuckles, ‘”I figured you would.”

You both work for thirty more minutes before Sam goes home to get ready and you go upstairs. He tells you that he’ll be back and he’ll walk with you to the club.

When you get to the club, you walk inside and find the club empty.

“Santana?” Sam calls into the empty club.

There’s a clanking of bottles and Santana appears from behind the bar. She’s in her white button down shirt. Her hair is in a loose ponytail that’s falling all over her face. You let out a small gasp when you see that her bottom lip is split on the left side. It’s slightly swollen around the area.

“What happened?” you ask.

She turns her head away from you so that you can’t see it, “It’s nothing.” She brushes you off, “C’mon Sam, we have a lot to do before opening.”

Sam nods and hops over the bar. He starts to say something, but Santana simply says, “Don’t.” Sam starts working and Santana adds, “I can’t sing tonight so you’re going to have to.”

Sam nods again and looks at Santana like he’s worried about her. That worries you. They’ve known each other for years and if there’s something to worry about, he’d know. He walks around the bar and walks to the back of the club.

You walk around the bar and step up behind Santana who looks like she just kicked something under the bar so that you couldn’t see it. She turns around to you and forces a smile, “Hey, how was your day?”

“Are you okay?” you ask, resting your fingers on her cheek, looking at the split.

She nods, “Hazards of the job.” She gently takes your hand that’s on her face and pulls it away, threading her fingers through yours. She holds your eyes, “I’m okay. I promise.”

You can’t help the tears the well up in your eyes. At this point you’re positive that someone did this to her and that hurts your heart. It makes you sick. You look down and see some broken skin of the knuckles of her left hand and that just upsets you more.

“Hey,” she says gently, pulling you into her arms, “I’m okay. I promise. Don’t cry.”

You sniffle and stop yourself from letting the tears go. You wrap your arms around her neck. You don’t say anything though.

When she pulls away from you, she gives you a quick kiss. You can see that that kiss hurt her wound, but she tries to hide it. She smiles, “I can’t wait for you to hear Sam sing. He’s really great.”

You smile back, choosing to ignore what Santana is ignoring. You help her make sure that the glasses are all in the right places before she opens up.

Sam is a really great singer. His voice is smooth and sweet. He smiles when he sings and you can see some people in the club leaning forward, listening intently. Santana makes you sit down a few hours into business.

You watch her move around the bar, a cigarette hanging out of her lips as she gets people their drinks. In her trousers and white shirt, she looks so… You don’t have words for it, but you want to do way more to her than just kiss her.

She slides a drink to a woman on the other side of the bar. The woman seems very interested in Santana, leaning on the bar. Santana leans on the bar as well, taking a long drag of her cigarette before taking the cigarette between her fingers and exhaling. She says something to the woman before laughing. The woman laughs as well. You wish you knew what they were saying because you are jealous of that smile Santana is giving her.

But when Santana turns away from the woman she looks your way, the smile still on her lips. She shoots you a wink. You smile back because she still remembers you when her club is full of beautiful women who throw themselves at her.

She points to you with her cigarette between her fingers and makes a motion of drinking. You shake your head, declining her offer of a drink. Sam walks back to the bar after a set and you walk to the bar as well.

“You’re a really great singer,” you tell Sam.

He smiles, “Thanks. I don’t usually like to do it, but it’s not too bad tonight.”

Santana sets a drink in front of him, “Keep up the good work. You’re getting some nice tips.”

Sam leans on the bar and looks at you, “How are you?”

“I’m great,” you grin at him.

When Sam goes back up on stage, you lean over the bar and kiss Santana goodbye. You’re going to go set up the diner for the after hours crowd. Santana kisses you again, “See you in an hour.”

When the club closes, most of the patrons move to the diner along with some stragglers from the factory just getting off of work. Santana just jumps in again, waiting tables.

You find that you enjoy working behind the grill. Occasionally Santana will wink at you through the pass through window and you giggle to yourself. When you close you look back at Sam and Santana. They’re both quietly cleaning up.

Sam touches the top of a table, “This one is wobbling.”

You nod, “It does that sometimes.” You walk to the counter and reach over the top of it, grabbing the screwdriver underneath. Then you walk over to the table and tighten the screw on the bottom of the table top. When you’re done, Sam pushes on it and it’s stable again.

“That is one handy woman you got there, Santana,” Sam grins.

Santana slips her arm around your waist, “Of course.”

Sam yawns and rolls his neck, “I gotta get home.” He points to Santana, “Do you want me to walk you?”

Santana looks at you and then back at Sam, “No. I… think I’m gonna stay here tonight.”

Sam chuckles. “Let me know when you need help moving in your clothes.”

Santana blushes and you just smile, taking her hand.

When Sam leaves, you turn off the lights and walk upstairs with Santana. When you get into the bedroom, Santana stops you and looks at you, “Are you sure it’s okay that I keep staying here?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” you ask her.

She shrugs, “We haven’t known each other that long and I keep spending the night with you.”

You gently kiss her lips, hoping that you’re not hurting her. Honestly, you feel like you’ve known her longer than you have. You know that Santana doesn’t have anywhere else to stay besides the couch at the club or Sam’s. You’d rather her be here so that you can take care of her. “You can stay here whenever you want.”

“And you’re okay sleeping in the same bed?” she asks, resting her forehead on yours.

You smile, “I love sleeping with you.”

She blushes slightly and hugs you. “Thank you Brittany.”

You turn away while she changes and go into the bathroom to change. Then you go into the bedroom and find Santana already in the bed.

You crawl in with her. Although the bed is big enough that you don’t have to be close to her, you move to her. Her hand is playing next to her face on the pillow and you place your hand on top of it.

She smiles at you, “I don’t open the club on Mondays or Tuesday night. So, I was wondering if I could take you out on a real date? I know we went to lunch and the zoo, but I want to take you to a nice supper. A real date.”

You can’t stop a smile, “Yes. That would be amazing.”

She kisses you, “I’m glad.” She wraps her arms around you and you rest your head on her shoulder. “Goodnight Brittany.”

“Goodnight Santana,” you sneak your hand under her shirt just to touch her again. You feel her muscles tense, then immediately relax as you softly stroke the skin.


	7. Chapter 7

When you wake up, Santana is still sound asleep. You kiss her forehead and leave her in bed to go open up the diner. Your dad arrives a few minutes early and you go over the books. He seems really impressed with the numbers and asks if you had to hire anyone.

“Yes,” you tell him and look over the numbers, trying to see how much will be left after you pay Sam.

Your dad asks who you hired. You tell him about Sam and how he’s supporting his family. You tell him about your other friend that helped out as well, but she wouldn’t take any money.

He smiles and pats your shoulder, “You have some good friends.” He sighs heavily, “You’re growing up.”

You smile and hug your dad, “Thanks Daddy.”

You both go over how you’ll be operating and what you’ll serve. When you’re done going over the books, your dad chuckles, “We’ll definitely keep opening when you want to and this Sam fella can keep working for you.” He puts his arm around your shoulders, “When I retire, I’m glad to know that this diner is in good hands.”

 You feel your heart swell with pride. He trusts you with his business.

You’re busy making the coffee when the front door opens. You look up with a smile ready to greet a regular when Santana walks in. She gives you a small smile and sits down at the counter. You just watch as she picks up a menu and asks, “What’s good here?”

You lean on the counter and smile brightly, “Well, I think that we have some good,” you pause and try to conjure the word. “Huevos.”

She chuckles, “I think I’ll have some of those.” She looks at the menu, “and some bacon. Is it too early for an egg cream?”

You smile, “Never.”

You make her, her drink and put her order in with your dad. You lean on the counter and ask her how she slept. She tells you she slept wonderfully and got a nice shower in the morning before going home to change.

You get to spend a little time with her before your regulars start coming in. Santana waves subtly at Dave who forces a tense smile and waves back.

When you get back to Santana, she has already put some cash down next to her plate. She waves you off when you tell her that she doesn’t have to pay. She stands up, “I have to go.”

Your eyes flicker to her healing lip. Then you smile at her, “Be careful.”

She runs her hand over the edge of the counter, “Always.” She gives you a wink and walks out.

Work makes your day go by faster and the faster you get to close up, the faster you get to run out of there and see Santana. You’re smiling to yourself as you wipe down the counter.

“Are you coming to supper tonight?” your dad asks.

You feel bad. You’ve been missing supper with your parents. You nod, “I’ll be there.”

You wait around as long as you can, hoping that Santana will drop by. When she doesn’t, you suck it up and make your way to your parent’s house.

When you pull up to the front curb, you look to the house on the left. She’s outside, digging around in her garden. You know she loves that garden. She used to spend hours in that garden and sometimes you’d help her. It’s weird thinking about it now, seeing as how she’s the reason you moved away from your parent’s house.

You lick your lips and close the car door, inevitably drawing attention to yourself. She turns around and looks at you. Out of habit, you look at her driveway to see if her husband is home. He’s not and that makes you even more nervous.

But she’s looking at you so you force a smile, “Hi Quinn.”

“Hi Brittany,” she forces an equally tense smile. But she stands up and dusts her hands on the apron that’s hanging over her dress. “You haven’t been around lately.”

“I’ve been busy,” you say as you walk down the sidewalk, staying close to your parents’ property line.

“New friends?” she asks.

You know what she’s really asking and you can’t lie to her. You nod slowly, “Yes.”

Her smile fades and she looks down for a moment. Then she looks up, “I’m happy for you.” Another tight smile crosses her lips.

You just awkwardly stand there for a few minutes before you nod to her, “Have a nice evening.” You can feel her eyes on your back all the way to the front door. You used to be accustomed to that feeling. It used to make you smile. Now it just makes you uncomfortable.

You walk inside your parents’ house and find your mom in the kitchen. She leaves whatever is in the pan and walks over to you, “Hello Brittany.” She wraps you in a hug.

You hug your mom back and smile, “Hi Mom.”

“How was work?” she asks. You know she’s never really liked that you decided to go work with your dad instead of getting married and having children. But you think deep down she knew that that wasn’t the life for you. She still supports you and your dreams.  She was very upset when you left home, but seemed to know that, although you wouldn’t give a reason, you needed to have some space.

 “It was great,” you smile at her and peer over her shoulder to see what she’s cooking, “Business is great.”

Your mom pats your cheek, “I’m glad you think so.” You know she just wants you to be happy. She steps away from you and turns back to the food, “I’m making pork chops.”

“With broccoli cheese casserole?” you ask hopefully.

Your mom chuckles and nods. “Of course.” She points to a covered dish. You lift up the corner and see your beloved casserole.

You kiss your mom’s cheek, “Thank you, Mom.”

“Your father tells me that you’ve had some new ideas for the diner and you’re working really hard,” your mom says.

You nod and pick out a piece of broccoli from the casserole. “It’s fun. I like it.”

“You’re so smart,” your mom smiles, “Your father says that your ideas are making the diner twice as profitable as it was before.”

You smile wistfully. You love that your dad is bragging about you. Even if it is just to your mom. She doesn’t have much to do with the shop apart from making the pies. She probably doesn’t even know a ball park number of how much the diner brings in.

Then you venture off to the living room to find your dad in the living room, reading the paper and listening to the radio. You sit on the arm of his chair and he folds up his paper, “Hey sweetheart.”

You put your arm around his shoulders, “Hi Daddy.”

“I’m glad you could join us for supper. I know you’re a busy young woman,” he says.

When you sit down for dinner, you look across at the empty chair that’s always there. As the only child with a family that has an informal table for four, you’ve always sat across from the empty chair. A few times, Quinn came over when your mom knew that Quinn was going to be alone because her husband was at work. But that chair has never been right unless it’s been empty.

Your dad cuts up his food and pauses, “Brittany. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

You look up at him with a smile and offer him the rolls. He smiles back and declines with a wave of his hand. “Sweetheart,” he continues, “I’m getting up there in age and my back isn’t what it used to be.” He pauses. “I’m thinking that it’s almost time for me to retire.”

You knew that this was going to come someday. You just didn’t think it would be so soon.

Your father smiles at you, “So, over the next few months, you’re going to be in charge. You may like it now, but I don’t want you to be stuck if you figure out that you hate it so, you’ll be in charge and after a few months, if you still love it, the diner is yours. If you hate it, we’ll sell it. You’ll get your part and you can find something else to do that you love.”

You stand up from your chair and hug your dad. “Thank you so much Daddy.” He’s giving you the chance of a lifetime. Being a woman in the time, having a business is hard. You’re not as street smart as Santana. You probably couldn’t do it on your own, but your dad has taught you everything he knows and everything is already set up. Everything is set. The distributors are set. The building is bought. It’s ready for you and you’re ready for it.

You’re so excited. You want to tell Santana so badly.

“I’ll be coming in the rest of this week and next week, but we need to find a waitress if you want to cook or a cook if you want to keep being a waitress,” he adds.

 You nod and sit back down in your chair.

After dinner, you help your mom with the dishes and then make your way back into the city. You have to get to the club early and tell Santana the good news.


	8. Chapter 8

When you walk into the club, Santana is sitting on the bar with a phone to her ear. She smiles you at you when you walk in. She turns her attention to the person on the phone, “The twenty-seventh is great…. Yes thank you.” She drops the phone in the cradle and places the base underneath the bar. “I have great news.” She drops on the floor and walks over to you.

You grin at her and wrap your arms around her waist, “I do too.”

Santana tilts her head up and kisses you. “You first.”

“My dad is giving me the diner,” you can’t contain yourself long enough to be polite and ask her if she’s sure. “I get to hire whoever I want and run it how I want to.”

Santana smiles even wider, “That’s amazing! We have to celebrate!” She pulls you to the bar and sits you down. Then she goes behind the bar and pulls out a bottle. It’s a beautiful bottle and you’ve only seen one other person buy one of those in the club. It cost the man more than you make in a week.

You ask, “What are you doing?”

“This is champagne,” Santana smiles and pulls two beautiful wine glasses from under the bar. They’re tall and skinny and they look so elegant. “Champagne is for celebrating.”

You put your hand on the bottle and lean forward, “Why don’t we take this to the diner after we close the club and we’ll have it there?”

She seems to like that idea and puts everything back.

“What was your news?” you ask Santana.

She leans forward across the bar and kisses you. “It’s not as exciting, but I finally got a band to come play. It’s just a trio, but it’ll be nice. My piano guy is starting to creep me out.”

“What is his name anyway?” you ask her. You’ve seen the man, but you’ve never talked to him.

“Um, Brad?” Santana says like she’s not sure. “He just showed up one day. I let him keep the tips and he plays all night.”

You reach across the bar and cup her cheek, running your finger over the healing cut on her lip. You lean forward and kiss her. “How was your day?”

“Great,” she smiles and takes your hand off of her face. “I get that you’re upset, but sometimes things like this happen.”

“I don’t like it,” you tell her. “Why wasn’t Sam with you?”

“Because I don’t want Sam to get in trouble either,” she explains. “I can handle myself.” She hops up onto and bar and pulls her feet over to your side of the bar. You rest your arms on her thigh and look up at her. She leans down and kisses you, holding your face in her hands, “I will be okay. I’ve taken care of myself my whole life.”

You look up at her and hold her eyes. “Can I take care of you sometimes?”

“You already do,” she moves her hands down to your face, resting them behind your neck. “You’re the reason that I’ve slept in a bed for more nights in a row than I have in years.”

“You can stay with me as long as you want,” you look at her with a grin, “I love sleeping with you.”

She bites her lip around her smile and adds, “I love sleeping with you too.”

“So, remember when I asked you out on a date?” she asks you.

You nod. You could never forget.

She smiles, “Is tomorrow night okay with you?”

You grin, “Of course.”

“Can I pick you up at your place?” she asks. Her voice is low like she’s nervous.

You smile because she has no reason to be nervous, “Of course.”

“Why do you keep saying of course?” she asks.

“Because I’d do anywhere with you,” you look into her eyes, finding the vulnerability that you’re sure only you get to see, “Anytime.”

She wraps her arms around your neck and hugs you to her body. You kiss her cheek and squeeze her.

You just sit there together like that for a minute. Then you stand up so that you’re about the same height as her sitting on the bar. You rest your hands on the bar next to her and rest your forehead on hers with your eyes closed. You like just standing like that. You’re just with her, touching her.

You can feel her hands lightly move from your shoulders across your collarbone and down your arms. She takes your hands and swiftly threads her fingers with yours. You can feel her thumbs gently roam over your wrists, feeling your pulse..

“Brittany,” she says softly.

You slowly open your eyes because moving any fasters seems like it would break the moment you’re having with her. You meet her eyes and see the seriousness in her eyes. She looks at you with this emotion that you’re not familiar with. It makes you feel warm all over your body.

She opens her mouth, but closes it again.

“Tell me,” you whisper to her.

She swallows and looks hard into your eyes, “I want you.”

You furrow your eyebrows. You don’t know what that means. How can she want you when she has you? You don’t….. Then you understand.

She must have seen that you understood what she was saying. She quickly shakes her head. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” she says quietly. “I just wanted you to know.”

You kiss her chastely and move closer to her. “I – I want you too. I just don’t know how to….” You trail off feeling embarrassed that you don’t even know how to go about having her.

She smiles gently, “We can ease into okay? No pressure.” Her smile falters, “We’ll wait for a little while longer just to make sure you’re sure.”

“Why wouldn’t you think I’m sure?” you ask her.

She drops your joined hands in her lap. She takes a deep breath, “I’ve seen situations happen before where a woman gets caught up in the danger and the taboo of being with another woman and then she realizes that it’s hard. There are people that will hate you for it and suddenly the love she had isn’t enough.” She blinks hard, “I’m…. I’m developing feelings for you and…” you can see tears start to form in her eyes, “And I’ve never been scared before, but I’m so scared because… I’ve never felt like this. And I don’t… I’ve been left before and you…. You’re so… everything. You’re everything.”

“Santana,” you say with the little breath left in your lungs. You need her to stop talking so you can process what she just said. You look down at the hands in her lap and close your eyes to think it over. You shake your head, “I’m not leaving you.”

She looks down at your hands, “I’m not trying to get rid of you. In fact I’ll be devastated if you do leave me, but have you thought about what your parents will think? You tell them or you hide it. I support whatever you do, but either way it’s hard. Telling your parents is terrifying and hiding it is exhausting.” You lets go of your right hand and moves it to your cheek, “I want to be with you, but I couldn’t stand it if you got hurt because of me.”

You actually have thought about telling your parents. You thought about when you first realized that you were attracted to Quinn. You thought about telling them when you moved to the city. You thought about telling them before you stepped into Santana’s club for the first time. You thought about telling your dad the first time you walked downstairs for work, leaving Santana upstairs asleep in your bed. You think about telling them every night you go over for supper.

“Santana,” you say quietly, “I don’t know what you want me to say.” You shake your head, “I can’t make all those decisions now.”

“I’m sorry,” she interrupts you. She takes her hands away from yours and slips off of the bar trying to get away from you. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

You grab her hand before she can get away, “Santana, wait. I didn’t mean that I don’t want to be with you.” You take her other hand and wait until she looks at you to continue. “Just because I haven’t told my parents yet doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you.” You look into her eyes as deeply as you can so that you can plant this seed somewhere you know it’ll grow, “You’re everything too Santana. I just don’t have all the answers right now.”

“You don’t have to,” she sighs, “I’m just… I’m scared.”

“Scared of what?” you ask her.

She nervously pauses, “I’m scared that I’m going to fall in love with you and you’re going to leave me.”

You smile and shake your head. You tuck some hair behind her ear. “I’m not going to leave you. You’re everything too.”

A tear makes it’s way down her cheek and slides around her smile. She shakes her head and wraps her arms around your neck. “Thank you Brittany.”

You rub her back. She pulls away and kisses you. Then she wipes her face. She takes a deep breath. “Okay, so I’m going to go make sure that I look okay.”

You stop her from walking off and kiss her. “You’re beautiful all the time.”

She grins and blushes slightly. “Thanks.”

You watch her walk to the back. Then you walk up to the stage and step up on it. You always wonder what it looks like from up there. You stand there and look over all the tables in the club and the long bar in the back. You can’t imagine all those people looking at you while you perform.

“Do you want to take over singing tonight?”

You spot Sam walk in the door and smile. You shake your head, “No way.”

He straightens his suspenders and meets you at the bar, “Too bad. I’m singing again tonight.”

“You don’t like to?” you ask him, “You’re so good at it.”

He chuckles, “I’m glad you think so, but I get nervous.” He looks behind you, “Where’s Santana?”

“I’m here,” she says, walking out from the back. She looks like she never shed a tear. She walks over to you and puts her arm around your waist. “I can sing some tonight if you want me to.”

“Does your lip feel better?” he asks.

You both look at Santana’s lips until she waves you both off, “Enough to sing.”

When the club opens, everyone gets to business. Santana makes you stop helping around the bar. When you have to go to the diner, Santana shoots you a wink.


	9. Chapter 9

You barely get done prepping when the mass starts to arrive. You keep watching the door for Santana, but Sam walks in without her. He gets to work and tells you that Santana will be in later.

She walks in about an hour later with some flowers and a large bag. She slips into the kitchen where you’re pouring pancakes. She kisses your cheek, “You can’t have these right now, but I’m going to go put them in your apartment.”

“Thanks,” you smile. “Are you hungry?”

“A little,” she eyes the grill.

You kiss her, “You go lay down. I’ll bring you up something.”

“You don’t have to,” you shifts her weight from one foot to the other.

“I’m going to,” you waggle your eyebrows, “Go upstairs. Sam and I have it covered.”

She looks like she’s about to protest when you give her a stern, yet playful look. She rolls her eyes and trudges through the kitchen into the storage room and then up the stairs.

When the crowd leaves, you start Santana’s food while Sam sweeps. As you’re putting Santana’s food on her plate, Sam steps into the kitchen. “I’m gonna head out.”

“Oh,” you set down the plate and wipe off your hands on a towel, “Let me get what I owe you.”

He silently follows you to the cash register where you open it with the key and pay him plus a little extra. When he tries to give it back to you, you shake your head. “My dad is giving me the diner to run myself and I think I don’t pay you enough.”

He runs a hand through his hair and hugs you. “Thank you Brittany.”

When he’s gone, you lock the door and take Santana’s food up the stairs. When you walk into the room, you find Santana laying on the bed with her shoes off, reading one of the books you had on your nightstand.

She’s so engrossed that she doesn’t look up from the book until you sit down on the bed by her knees. She looks surprised at first, but then she smiles, putting book face down, open on the nightstand so she doesn’t loose her place.

You hand her the plate you made her. She chuckles at the smiley face on her pancakes. “Thank you.”

You take a shower while she eats and when you get out of the shower, Santana’s gone and so are her plates. You quickly get dressed and walk down the stairs. You find her in the kitchen, washing her dishes.

You walk up behind her and wrap your arms around her waist. She smiles and leans back into you. “Hi.”

“Hi,” you kiss the back of her head, “Come to bed?”

She nods and dries off her hands. But at the foot of the stairs, she stops you. “Count to a hundred and then come up the stairs.”

You don’t know what she’s doing, but you agree. She tells you to close your eyes and kisses both of your eyelids before you hear her running up the stairs.

When you finally get to one hundred you slowly walk up the stairs. When you get to your bedroom you find candles lit and Santana standing with two flutes of champagne.

You smile and accept one that she offers you. You kiss her. “I nearly forgot about the champagne.”

She tilts her head and kisses you. “I’m so very proud of you Brittany.”

You blush at her words. That makes you so happy. You raise your glass to her and she gently taps hers against yours. She offers a small toast, “To you.”

“To us,” you amend her toast and take a sip of your champagne. Then you set it down and offer your hand to her, “Would you like to dance?”

“There’s no music,” Santana says, but sets her glass down and takes your hand.

“We don’t need music,” you hold her close to you as you both sway in the candlelight. After a while, she rests her head on your shoulder. Your fingers on the small of her back are slowly stroking the material of her dress. “I love dancing with you."

“I love dancing with you too,” she says quietly.

You can tell that she’s getting tired so you dance her over to the bed and gently lay her down. Once you blow out all the candles and you crawl in after her, your earlier talk about wanting each other comes rushing to the surface and you remember all those feelings you had. All the ones you have.

So when you lay down in the bed and the lights are off, you get nervous. You lick your lips and wish you knew what to do. She moves toward you and rests her forehead on yours.

She’s wearing a dress so you can’t touch the skin of her stomach like you like. You move your hand down, not touching her before you think your hand is low enough. You rest your hand just above her knee over the material of the dress.

She moves her leg a little and you can feel her skin start to peek out from under the nightgown. You push the dress up a little and feel her knee under your hand. It’s just her knee, but you are so nervous.

She kisses you. It starts out slow and sweet, but soon you find yourself needing more of her. You move your lips against hers. You feel her tongue dip into your mouth and when it meets yours you moan into her mouth.

Your hand gets bold on its own and pushes up her thigh under the gown. She gasps as your hand squeezes the underside of her thigh. She’s panting and holding onto the back of your neck.

You move yourself so that you’re on top of her. “Brittany,” she pants. You feel your hips rest on hers and know that this is the closest you’ve ever been to anyone. You lean on your elbows that are right next to her ribs and just rest your body against hers while you kiss her.

Her hands creep up your neck and into your hair. You feel her fingers massage your scalp as your tongues and lips move together in a never-ending kiss.

You feel her body start to move under yours, trying to get closer. Santana pulls back and looks at you. You can feel her eyes moving across your face. You don’t know what she’s looking for.

“Can we… slow down?” she asks.

You nod, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to,” she kisses you. “I’m just… really tired and when we do this, I want to be here. Completely here.”

You understand. You’re tired as well. Working at the club and then at the diner always drains you. You roll off of her and wrap your arms around her body. She does the same and you feel so great in her arms. You feel safe and warm. You feel loved.

You bury your face in her neck and just exist with her in your bed. It seems like the most important thing in the world, just existing with her. You close your eyes and feel her breathing under your arms. You hear her soft breaths on your shoulder. You drop a kiss on her neck and wish her sweet dreams in a whisper.

“Do you like movies?” Santana asks as she helps you close down the diner the next morning.

You nod, “I haven’t been to many, but I like them.”

She moves the chairs back under the tables while you make sure the kitchen is clean. You jump you when you feel her behind you. You thought she was still in the dining room.

“I’m sorry,” she says sweetly. She kisses your neck and wraps her arms around your waist. “I have some things I have to do before we go out, but I’ll pick you up at five for the movie?”

“Perfect,” you smile. “What do I wear?”

“Dress up,” she grins.

So you spend an hour looking through your closet, trying to find something worthy of a date with Santana.

Once you’re finally dressed and your hair is curled just how you’ve seen is popular now, you smile at yourself in the mirror. You hope Santana thinks you’re beautiful.

There’s a knock on the downstairs door and you quickly run down to answer it. You pull the door open and are met with a face full of flowers. You giggle and take the flowers from Santana. She smiles at you and kisses your cheek, “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” you smile, giddily. You look her over and her champagne colored dress hangs on her perfectly. It hugs her thin frame and the bottom of her skirt has some sheer cover that makes it flow beautifully, “You look… perfect.”

“Shall we?” she asks.

You run up the stairs to put the flowers in water before coming downstairs. She leads the way to a car parked on the curb in front of the diner. She opens the passenger door for you and you get in. The car if huge and beautiful, painted all white.

When you get to the movies, others dressed just as nicely as you are gathered outside. Santana parks the car and you both walk to the theatre. You can’t help, but think that she looks regal with her hair pulled back into a bun at the base of her neck. The way she walks makes you feel like she’s extremely proud to be your date, even if you’re both being incredibly subtle.

The seats in the theatre are so comfortable. The walls are lined with lush drapes and the red carpet down the aisles is beautiful.

You look excitedly around taking in everything and you catch Santana watching you. You bashfully lower your head. She takes your hand as the lights go down and subtly kisses your cheek in the dark. She pauses close to your ear and whispers, “You look ravishing tonight.”

The way she says it sends a shooting tingling feeling down your spine. You don’t have time to revel in it because the film starts, but you keep her hand in yours. You become completely enthralled with the movie. The acting and the music is amazing, but you love the dancing. Something about it excites you in a way you can’t explain. You just want to get up starts dancing as well.

You only realize that you’re tapping your foot when you see Santana grinning at you in the light of the film. You feel her thumb brush over your knuckles and know that she thinks it’s cute.

When the movie is over, everyone stands up and claps. You’re not sure why, but you guess it’s just the kind of establishment this place is. Santana holds your hand as you walk out of the theatre and opens the car door for you. Before she starts the car, she asks, “Did you enjoy the movie?”

You nod. “Very much.”

“You were practically dancing in your chair,” she chuckles.

You just smile back at her, “I like to dance.”

“Maybe we should go dancing sometime,” she says and turns on the car.

As she drives, you scoot across the seat and sit right next to her. She puts her arm around you. You rest your head on her shoulder. “This is the best date I’ve ever been on.”

She chuckles, “We’re not even done yet.”

She takes you to a fancy restaurant and patiently explains the menu to you. Santana is again, showing you a whole new world of delicious food. After dinner, you both walk a few blocks to a club. It’s different than Santana’s, but you see some people that you recognize from her club. You’re both seated at a cozy table and served dessert and wine while you watch a variety act that has you both rolling.

During an intermission, a man walks over to your table. He says something in Santana’s ear and she looks confused for a moment before looking at him again, “Are you serious?”

He grins, “Serious.”

“Huh,” Santana looks at you and then back at him, “We should have a meeting. Tomorrow. Same place at noon.”

The man in the tuxedo nods and walks off.

“What was that?” you ask her.

“Business,” she states, “Tonight is for pleasure.” She kisses you and scoots closer.

You shelf your concern for her and her business. You hold her around her waist and rest your head on her shoulder. While you watch the show, you feel Santana’s fingertips move up and down your back in long, slow strokes.

“Sweetheart,” Santana says into your hair.

You look up at her. She smiles when she sees your face. After dropping a kiss on your forehead, she says. “Are you alright?”

You nod. “Yes. Thank you.”

When the show ends, Santana parks her car in the alley behind your apartment. You unlock the door and hold her hand all the way up the stairs. In the bedroom, Santana sits you down on the bed.

She stands in front of you and kisses your forehead. Then she kneels down in front of you. She tenderly removes your shoes. She places them against the wall. Then she runs her hands up your right calf and slowly pulls down the stocking on that leg. Then she runs her hands up your other calf and pulls off that stocking.

What she’s doing to you is arousing. The way she’s so sweetly taking care of you. The way her fingers glide across your skin. You love the way her eyes keep looking up at you, checking to make sure that everything she’s doing is okay with you.

“Santana,” you say because you need her to look at you again.

She looks up at you and you kiss her. She pushes up and feel her moving you back onto the bed. She kicks off her own shoes and crawls onto the bed with you.

“We’re not in our nightgowns,” you mumble against her lips.

“That’s okay,” she whisper softly and lays her body on top of yours, still kissing you. Your hands move to her waist as you realize what’s happening. Your hands start shaking on top of her, and she seems to notice, “We don’t have to do anything.” She pushes up on her elbows and looks down at you, “I was just thinking that we could… get to know each other you know?”

You find the meaning in her eyes and nod, “Yeah. Okay. That’s a great idea.”

“We don’t have to,” she says softly, “We can just lay here.”

You shake your head, “I want to.”  You push up and kiss her, not breaking the kiss when you lay back down.

She slowly unzips your dress down the side and her hand slides inside. At first her fingertips just lick at your skin, but soon her palm is pressed to your side. You inhale deeply tying to calm your electrified body.

She kisses your neck before moving off of the bed. She motions for you to get up and when you do, holding your dress up with your arm, she takes your arm away. With one flick of her fingers, your dress falls to the ground, leaving you in your bra and panties. You haven’t been this exposed in front of anyone except your mother your entire life. And the last time it was in front of your mother was years ago.

Santana catches your hands before they move to cover yourself. She takes your hand and places it on top of the zipper that runs down her back. You slowly pull it down and watch as her dress falls as well.

You can’t stop your hands from running up and down her sides and then up her back. You pull her body to yours and when the skin of your stomach touches hers, you squeeze your eyes closed. The feeling is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. You dip your head down to kiss her. This time it’s a hungry kiss. You need more of her.

Your kissing gets aggressive and Santana takes a step back to keep from falling. However, she steps up against the wall and you take advantage of that. Your hands dip down to the top of her hips as you keep kissing her. She moans into your mouth when you press your body up against hers.

She uses your strength pressing against her upper body, to wrap her legs around your waist. She uses your hips to push up and rest her elbows on your shoulders, her hands tangling in your hand.

You hold her up by moving your hands to the back of her thighs. You kiss your way down her neck and your lips move across her collarbone. You hold her up higher and kiss the hop of her breast because you’ve always wanted to know what they felt like against your lips.

You feel her hands tighten in your hair as she arches her back against you. Your name crosses her lips concealed in a breath. She looks down at you with a breathless look on her face. Then her lips crash against yours.

You turn around and lower Santana onto the bed. She doesn’t give you a chance to gracefully get on the bed because she grabs your and rolls over so that she’s on top of you.

Her hands seem to be everywhere at once. You feel them like they leave a deep charge through your body. She’s touching you in places that no one else’s hands have ever been and as electrifying as it is, you also feel so safe. You trust her steady hands to make you feel good.

She’s careful to avoid touching your bra or panties. Her hands go everywhere else. When they run up your thighs and down to your knees you get weak. When she kisses your neck and down to your stomach, you want her to kiss you everywhere.

You have to fight your body to say her name, but when you do it’s soft and hoarse. She looks up at you. Her hair is disheveled from where you’ve been running your hands through it and it makes her look wild.

You keep eye contact as you move your hand to her stomach and then up. You pause before your hand and wait for her to let you know it’s okay. You want to explore her body too and learn how to make her feel good.

She nods slowly. You look up at her as her hand moves up and over her bra. You can feel her inhale making her breast press into your hand. You gently squeeze and stroke your thumb over the skin peaking out of the top.

You roll her over and snake your hand behind her. You easily unhook the clasp of her bra. She looks up to you as she slowly pull the bra down her arms and off her body. You take in her naked torso. You’re not sure what to do now. You want to touch her, but you’re not sure if you should. She seems to realize this.

Santana takes your hands and gently places them on her breasts. You feel the want between your legs explode. You close your eyes and just feel it wash over you. She runs her hands through your hair, “Are you okay?”

You nod slowly. You don’t know what just happened, but your whole body is warm and tingling. Santana pulls you down for a tender kiss.

You realize that your hands are still on Santana’s breasts so you starts moving your fingers across them. You feel her nipples harden against your palms. Her breath against your lips becomes broken up. You move your head down her body and run your tongue between her breasts. You feel her hand slide into your hair and grip it near your scalp.

She moans as you explore her body, memorizing every inch of her breasts. You find what she likes and worship her body. You look up at her and see her looking down at you, watching you. She looks so beautiful with her face flushed and her mouth slightly open.

 You don’t know where to go from here. You want to do everything that she likes, but you’re so new to this. She’s the first person you’ve ever been in this situation with.

She knows though. Like she always does. “It’s okay.”

“Show me,” you state softly.

With a smile, she kisses you and flips you over onto your back. Once you’re both comfortable she breaks the kiss and looks down at you, “Are you sure?”

You nod firmly, “Yes.”

A faint smile plays on her lips and she cups your cheek. “I love you, Brittany.”

You let out a face splitting smile. “I love you too.” You pull her down for a quick kiss before she moves down your body.


	10. Chapter 10

When you wake up, you’re sore. You and Santana did things last night that you’ve never imagined you’d do, but you also felt things you’ve never felt before. You drop a kiss on her forehead when you get up.

You go downstairs and start getting things ready for the day. As you do it, you sort of shuffle around like they did in the movie last night. You realize the noises that your shoes make and start using them like tap shoes.

You love dancing. You feel so light on your feet. You feel like you’re good at it. You’ve decided that you’re going to get some tap shoes so that you can start dancing properly. You want to be able to dance like that man and that woman in the movie. You feel like it’s important. You don’t know why.

Your dad walks in while you’re tapping around the tables. You don’t notice him at first, but blush heavily when you do. He chuckles, “Keep going. You’re pretty good.”

You shake your head, “I’ve never done it before.”

“Well you’re a natural,” your dad says.

You grin, “Thanks.”

He starts getting ready for the breakfast rush and you start some coffee. You pour yourself a cup because you had a long night last night. As you’re stirring in the cream and sugar you see Sam walk in. You smile. “Hey Sam.”

“I came to see if you needed any help,” he says with his hands in his pockets.

You think about it and then call your dad to the front counter. “Daddy, I have an idea.”

He just chuckles. Then her introduces himself to Sam. Sam shakes his hand and introduces himself.

“Why don’t you take the morning off?” you tell your dad. “Sam is here. We can see how it goes without you.”

He looks from Sam to you. Then he smiles, “I wish you would have told me this before I woke up this morning.”

You smile and hug him. “Why don’t you go get Mom some flowers and surprise her?”

He seems to take to that idea. He puts his jacket back on, “Quinn brought over a pie after you left. She asked about you.”

You try your best not to look uncomfortable. You force a smile, “How is Quinn?”

“Your mother thinks she’s lonely,” your dad shrugs and scratches the back of his head, “But I don’t like to talk about people. You and Quinn used to be really close. Maybe you should come see her. Show her your life in the big city.”

You nod slowly. Then you hug your dad and promise to call him when you close.

Sam looks at you and you just ignore his questioning look. “Don’t worry about it.” You move to the kitchen and try to shake off the feeling that someone bringing up Quinn stirs up in you.

“Um, Brittany?” Sam says from the pass through window, “Do you just want me to do the usual stuff?”

“I’m sorry,” you turn around to him and nod. “Just make sure all the shakers are full and the tables are clean.”

He nods, “No problem.”

A few minutes into the breakfast rush, Santana walks sleepily down the stairs. You have Sam pass a cup of coffee through the window for her. He smiles at his club boss and she rolls her eyes. While Sam is blocking the pass through window with his broad shoulders, you dip your head down and kiss Santana’s neck. “Did you sleep okay?”

She rests her head on your shoulder and nods sleepily. You know she wasn’t ready to get up. “Why don’t you go to bed babe?”

You takes a sip of coffee, “I’ll be okay. I’m going to go help Sam.” She checks the window before she kisses you, “I love you.”

That makes you smile, “I love you too.”

She walks out into the dining room in what you notice is one of your dresses. She looks so beautiful, walking out into the dining room.

You get back to making breakfast. You add an extra plate in the window. Santana goes to pick it up, but looks at her ticket, “No one ordered this.”

“Yeah, but you need to eat,” you tell her.

She tries not to smile, but it comes through anyway. You know that she tries to be tough, but she doesn’t have to be around you. You blow her a kiss and go back to the grill.

At the end of the service, Sam sweeps up and you clean the kitchen. Santana is in the back of the diner, talking on the payphone to someone. She’s speaking in a low voice, but occasionally you catch what she’s saying.

To get a better listen, you start cleaning the booth closest to the payphone. Her back is to you so she doesn’t see you. You can hear her say, “Yeah, I know. It’s for sure.” She clears her throat, “Yeah, it’s huge opportunity. I’m not letting this go.” After a few seconds of silence she adds, “I’ll see you tonight.” She hangs up.

When she turns around, she jumps seeing you. “I, um, hi.”

You pick up the rag you were using to clean the booth and kiss her. You quickly change the subject, “Do you want to come with me to get tap shoes?”

She automatically smiles at that, “You’re going to start dancing?”

You nod.

“Well, if you’re going to do that, then there’s someone I want you to meet,” she says with a grin. She turns to Sam, “Hey, do you want to go with us to see Mike?”

“Yeah,” Sam grins. He looks around. “Just let me finish cleaning off the tables.”

With help, Sam is done within minutes. You follow Santana and Sam through the streets and your first stop is a dance store. They have all kinds of things that you find fascinating, but the most fascinating of all are the tap shoes. Santana walks off and comes back with a man, wearing a measuring tape around his neck. He’s wearing a vest over a pinstriped shirt.

“Hi,” he smiles kindly at you, “I hear you would like to tap.”

You nod. “I’m just starting though.”

“Well let’s find you some shoes,” he looks along the wall and pulls out two pairs of tap shoes. One pair is white and the other is black. “Which ones do we like better?”

“The black ones,” you say. You’re getting excited. You look up at Santana. She’s smiling at you.

The man looks up at Santana, “Where did Sam go?”

“He went to the back. I think he’s playing with your record player in the studio,” Santana sits on the arm of the chair that you’re in. “Mike, this is Brittany. Brittany, this is Mike.”

Mike smiles up at you as he measures your foot, “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” you smile back at him.

Mike looks between the two of you and then raises his eyebrows at Santana. Santana chuckles and nods. You think that Mike just asked if you were together. You love that Santana smiled and told him that you are.

Once you’re fitted for your shoes, Mike helps you stand up. “Let’s go try these out and see how they feel.”

Santana follows the two of you to the back of the store through a door that opens up into a studio. Mike picks up a pair of worn out shoes and kicks off the ones that he’s wearing. Then he pulls the worn out ones onto his feet. When he steps onto the wooden floor you hear that he’s wearing tap shoes.

He holds out his hand to you and you step onto the wooden dance floor. You see mirrors on one side of the room so that you can see what you’re doing.

“Let’s check to toe plates,” he says and taps his toes to show you.

You do the same and he nods, “Good. Now the back.” He shows you again and you do it again. “Great,” he grins.

Music starts filling the room and you see Sam standing next to a record player. Then you look at Mike. He starts tapping and he looks like the guy from the movies. He’s so good. You find yourself smiling so hard, watching him.

He moves back over to you and instructs you to tap the front of your right foot and then the back of it, sort of like kicking. You do that repetitively and he starts tapping to the beat of your foot.

When the song is over, Santana walks over to you and gives you a kiss, “I have to go meet someone, but I’ll be right back.”

“Is Sam going with you?” you ask her, worried about her going somewhere alone again.

She shakes her head, “I’ll be fine.”

“We can keep dancing,” Mike smiles at you, trying to distract you from how upset you are that Santana is going to a meeting alone.

You know that you can’t stop Santana so you nod slowly. You give Santana a hug and a kiss and whisper that you love her in her ear.

She smiles lovingly at you, “I’ll be back soon. I promise.”

Mike helps to get your mind off of the trouble that Santana could be in. He teaches you as much as his can and even tries to get Sam into it. Sam tells you that he isn’t a dancer and sticks to changing out the records.

You don’t know how long you’re there, but you spot Santana stick her head in and call Sam to the front of the store. You stop what you’re doing look out the door. You see Santana frown deeply as she explains something to Sam. You can only see the back of him, but he’s nodding with his arms crossed.

Then they both look into the studio space and both of their eyes land on you. You smile awkwardly. She chuckles and motions for you to go to her.

You walk to her, the tapping of your shoes on the floor, slightly distracting you from what could be going on. When you stop in front of her, she takes your hand. “How’s dance going?”

You can’t help, but smile, “It’s fun.”

“Great,” she smiles. “You’re a natural anyway.”

You swing your hands between yourself, “How is everything?”

Santana looks away from you and shrugs, “Fine. Just business.” She smiles, changing the subject, “Are you hungry?”

You pause for a moment and realize that you are. Dancing really takes it out of you. Santana pays for your dance shoes even when you offer to. She just smile at you and kisses you as she’s leaning on the counter.

Mike puts your shoes into a paper bag and hands them to you, “Come back anytime if you want to dance.”

“I will,” you promise with a grin.

Sam and Mike shake hands before leaving and Mike waves at you and Santana.

“Hey, I’m going to go home for a while,” Sam says as you step out onto the sidewalk. “Get some sleep before we open tonight.”

Santana nods and you hug Sam.

You swing your bag in your hand as you walk. “So,” you talk when she doesn’t say anything, “Are we going to the Bronx so that Tatiana can tell me more embarrassing stories about you?”

Santana laughs, “If you want.”

“Do you have another meeting today?” you ask her softly.

She licks her lips and nods. “I have to talk so some people about some things.”

You look around you. There are few people walking around, but none within earshot, “You can tell me what you’re doing. I’m not going to tell anyone anything, but if I don’t know, I worry about you.”

She stops walking and looks around. Then she takes your hand and you walk a few blocks in silence. When you realize where you’re going, you get out your keys. You open the side door to your apartment and you both go inside.

When you get to your bedroom, you sit on the bed and Santana paces next to the bed. She threads her own fingers together and twists her wrists, “Brittany, I want to tell you stuff. There’s something about you that makes me want to tell you everything, but…. If something happens to me, I don’t want you to have anything to do with it.”

“I know,” you sigh. “I just… I can’t help, but think of the worst when you’re not with me.”

Santana nods, “I understand.” She stops in front of you and kneels down. She looks up at you, “I’ve always been alone. I had my family, but this business has always been just me. There’s a lot that even Sam doesn’t know. I love you and the business I’m in is dangerous.” She takes your hands and rests them on your legs. She kisses your fingers, “You don’t belong in that world.”

You look down at her and feel such a huge swell of emotions, “But I belong with you.”

She pushes up off of the floor and kisses you. “We do belong together.” She looks into your eyes. “And I will do everything I can to keep us together. I’ve never had to think about anyone else and now every time I go to a meeting, I think about you and how I need to leave that meeting in one piece to get back to you.”

“You don’t have to run the club anymore,” you tell her. Her words have really touched you. It shows you how much she loves you. You have to try to get her away from that so neither of you has to worry anymore. “You can move in with me. We can run the diner together.”

You smiles lovingly up at you. She kisses you again, “I love you so much.” When she lean back down, she adds, “But I can’t. Not yet. Do you remember the reason you came to my club?”

You nod slowly. You see what she’s getting at, “To be with people like me.”

She sees that you understand.

You sigh, “I know that you don’t want to tell me everything, but you can tell me some things.”

“Well,” she smiles, tenderly stroking your fingers with her thumbs, “I was going to keep it a surprise, but I have an actual, professional singer coming into the club tonight. I was hoping that you’d come see her.”

“Of course I’ll be there,” you tell Santana with a grin. This is big news. You wonder who it is.

“I have to go in early to set up an area for her and her entourage,” Santana gets up off of the floor and walks around to the other side of the bed. She lays down and opens her arms to you.

You lay down with your head on her shoulder and feel her arms envelope you. “Can we take a nap?” you ask softly, feeling relaxed enough in her arms to become tired.

“Of course,” she kisses your forehead.

You hold onto her and close your eyes, drifting off to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

The singer is sitting at one of the three small tables Santana put in the corner for her. There are two tall, well-dressed men with her and two other, smaller men sitting at the other table.

You walk to the bar and find, Sam and Santana behind the bar. Mike is sitting on the other side.

“Hey,” you smile to all of them.

“Hi,” Santana is the first to respond grinning up at you.

“Need any help?” you ask.

Santana and Sam look at each other before Santana shakes her head, “I guess you could be talent relations.”

“What’s that?” you ask, confused.

“You can go over to the talent and see if she needs anything,” Santana shrugs, “If you want to.”

You decide that you definitely do. You’ve never met a professional entertainer of any kind before. You walk over to the small grouping of tables and smile at the woman in the middle, “Hi, I’m Brittany. Do you need anything to drink or anything?”

The woman smiles back, “No thank you Brittany. I’m Rachel. It’s very nice to meet you.” She looks to her sides, “These are my goons, Finn and Puck.”

They both nod to you. One of them has his head shaved weird. There’s just a small strip running down the middle of his head. He chuckles and turns to Rachel. Then Rachel points behind herself at the other table, “Those are my stylists, Kurt and Blaine.”

You know that you’ve seen one of them here before at the club.

You look at the goons and now you have the stylists’ attention, “Can you get you all anything?”

“Water,” the smallest man says.

“Whiskey,” Puck, the goon with the weird haircut, says.

The other goon, Finn, asks, “Do you have any juice?” When you nod, he says, “Vodka with whatever juice you have.”

You look to the last stylist and he asks for a whiskey as well. You walk back over to the bar and tall Sam what they wanted.

You chat with Mike about the weather and tap shoes until a man walks up to Mike. He looks nervous and has his hat in his hands.

“H-Hi,” the man says, “I’m new at this and I was wondering if you’d like to join me for drinks.”

Mike smiles widely. “I would love to join you for drinks. But I have to tell you, my girlfriend is meeting me here. I’m extremely flattered that you’d want to ask me out.”

“Oh god!” the man seems really upset, “I’m so sorry.”

Mike signals Sam for another drink and when he gets it, he hands it to the man, “C’mon, lets go have that drink.”

Mike and the nervous man walk off and you think that might be the kindest thing you’ve ever seen.

You pick up the tray that Santana has set out for you and she gives you a wink. You smile back and take the drinks to Rachel and her entourage.

When you get close to them, you see that Rachel has switched tables and is talking about all the things that she loves about this club with the two men she’s sitting with. You give everyone their drinks and ask them if they need anything else.

One of the men sitting with Rachel is wearing a bowtie, “You’re the owner’s girlfriend?”

You nod with a smile.

“You two are really cute together,” Rachel smiles.

You feel a blush crawling up your cheeks, “Thanks.”

“Do you know if she’s ever thought about singing professionally?” the third at the table asks, gently touching up his hair.

You look behind you at Santana. She’s pouring a drink for a woman at the bar and gives it to her with a smile. You look back at Rachel, “Not that I know of, but she’s really great.”

“I came in last week to scout the place,” the man nods, “She’s phenomenal.”

“I hear that after the club closes, most of the people here go to a diner,” Rachel leans on the table and looks up at you. “Does she go?”

“Yeah, it’s my diner,” you nod, “She usually comes to help out.”

“Do you think we could steal her away for a few minutes tonight?” Rachel asks with a smile.

You nod. You’re at peace with that fact that there will always be someone wanting to steal her away for a few minutes. She’s a busy person. That’s part of what you love about her.

You cover for Santana when they steal her away. It’s a short meeting. You see Santana look at you a few times during the meeting. When she’s done, she stands up and walks back to the bar.

You also see Rachel get up and start to move toward the stage. Blaine gets up with her and sits behind the piano.

When Santana gets to the bar, she tells Sam to go work the lights. Everyone in the bar watches Rachel ascend the stages as you and Santana stand behind the bar. You’re leaning forward on the bar when you feel Santana stand behind you. Her hands rest on the bar around you. You lean back into her as the lights dim.

As Rachel adjusts the microphone, Santana places a tender kiss at the base of your neck.

“Hello,” Rachel smiles to the crowd. “I’m Rachel Berry.” She pauses and looks around, “This club is fabulous.” A few people in the crowd cheer and everyone smiles. “Aright, this first song is for all you lovers out there. So fellas, grab your man and ladies grab your woman.”

She starts singing and the whole crowd watches her. Well most of the crowd. Since no one is at the bar, one of Santana’s hands rests on your hips. You close your eyes, feeling her hand move up and down your side with the music.

“I love you,” she murmurs into your neck.

You smile and turn around in her arms, “I love you too.” You kiss her slowly, loving how the music is sort of wafting around you, helping you create a rhythm between your lips.

When Rachel takes a break, the bar becomes swamped. Santana has had to forget her rule about you touching alcohol to keep up with the demand. You’re running all over the club, taking drinks to people and picking up orders. Sam has had to wash glasses at least twice.

You have to leave to open up the diner because some of the regulars are hanging around, waiting for you to open. Sam has to stay, but you figure you can handle it until Sam and Santana arrive.

Rachel and her entourage lead the charge over to the diner. They occupy the largest table in the back of the dining room. You’re starting to get behind when Sam and Santana sweep in to save the day.

Toward the end of the night, you, Sam, and Santana are sitting at the table with Rachel and her group. She’s telling all kinds of stories of traveling the country, being a singer. When she gets tired, Kurt insists that she go back to the hotel so that she doesn’t get sick.

Rachel hugs everyone and promises that she’ll see you all again before she leaves for Las Vegas next week.

Sam hugs you and Santana before leaving after he sweeps up.

You and Santana tiredly trudge up the stairs and fall into bed.

“That went really well,” Santana sighs and lays her head on your chest.

“Are you going to do that more often?” you ask her.

Santana nods, “I hope so.”

You run your fingers through her hair and kiss at her hairline.

“I just have to get more singers,” she yawns and raises her hands over her head to stretch. She turns over on her stomach, draping herself over you. She tilts her head up and kisses you under your jaw. “Not everyone has two gay dads.”

“Rachel has two gay dads?” you ask trying to work out how that happened in your head.

Santana nods, “She has a lot of gay friends and a couple of them got her to come take a look and she loved it. I have a real jazz singer coming next week that is friends with Kurt.” She sleepily murmurs, “Big plans for the club.”

“What kind of plans?” you ask her.

She doesn’t say anything. She takes a deep breath, then finally speaks, “I don’t….you can’t get hurt.”

“You can trust me you know,” you tell her because it is starting to hurt you that she doesn’t trust you enough to tell you what she really does.

She looks up at you and places her chin on the back of her hand, “You know it’s not a matter of trust.”

“It feels like it,” you sigh softly. You pull the blankets up over her back and settle into your pillow.

“Babe, don’t…. fine,” she says. “One of my contacts told me that prohibition is about to end. Congress is about to repeal it. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I’m try to import as much booze as I can before then. All the other clubs will only have the bathtub gin and I want to have real liquor. I have some whiskey coming down from Canada, vodka from Russia, the good liquor. I’m trying to get the finest wines from France and Italy. It’s just taking a lot of time and a lot of money. I’m also looking into opening a new club across town. It’ll have a bigger stage so that there can be dancing.”

You look down at her questioningly, “Dancing?”

She grins and nods. “I know some very talented dancers who need somewhere to perform.” She pushes up with her arms and kisses you. “You know, if you ever decide that you want to.”

You smile and kiss her, loving how thoughtful she is. “Thank you.”

She smiles and rests her head on your chest, “You don’t have to thank me. I just want to make you happy.”

“You do,” you rest your hand on her back and gently rub. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she whispers into the darkened bedroom.


	12. Chapter 12

You’re on your way to the studio to dance a little with Mike. You love being able to wake up when you want because the diner doesn’t open. This morning, you woke up with Santana and had a lazy morning. She made you breakfast before going to one of her meetings.

You smile because she actually told you where she was going and what she was going to do. You love that soon what she’s doing won’t be illegal anymore. You can worry about her less when she’s gone.

As you’re walking, you look down at your tap shoes. You know that you probably shouldn’t wear them on the street, but you like the way the grit of the street sounds under your feet. Like you’re tap dancing on sand.

Mike hugs you when you arrive and you immediately get to dancing. You love dancing. You feel so light and free.

Just are you’re entering your second hour of dancing like those people in the movies, you see someone standing in the doorway. It startles you so much that you almost fall. Mike catches you and sets you down.

“You’re really good at that,” Quinn says in the doorway.

“How did you – how did you find me?” you ask, startled.

“The fella that’s cleaning up the diner told me where you were,” she states.

You forgot that you left Sam to clean up the diner. You swallow, “What’s going on?”

“Your mom keeps asking me when I’m going to start hanging out with you again,” she shrugs. “And I got…lonely.”

You turn to Mike and take a deep breath. You always hate it when Quinn gets that look in her face. You know she’s lonely. She used to be lonely with you, but you moved to get away from her. You guess that that didn’t help her loneliness. “I’m going to take off.” You hug him, “Thank you. If you see Santana can you tell her that I’ll meet her at the club tonight.”

Mike nods, “I was getting tired anyway. You wear me out.”

You chuckle and walk out of the studio. After changing your shoes, you walk down the street with Quinn.

“I know you moved to get away from me and this isn’t exactly the way you want to spend your day,” Quinn starts.

You shake your head, “I moved to get to the city and learn how to be myself.”

“Well,” Quinn takes a deep breath, “Thank you for spending some time with me. I know you’re busy. Especially with your new…friends.”

You have a late lunch at a deli because Quinn is too frightened to go to the Bronx and have lunch, which was no great because you were craving Cuban food.

“What is this club you’re going to?” Quinn asks.

You look up and find that you’re actually in the neighborhood that the club is in, like you wanted to go there without knowing it. “It’s… not your kind of club.”

“How do you know?” she asks defiantly.

You just shrug, “Okay, fine. It’s this way.”

She looks a little hesitant, but you know her pride will get in her way and she’ll go with you.

When you get to the club, you use the hidden key attached to the bottom of the railing by the stairs to open the door. Quinn looks questioningly at you, but you walk in first.

“Sam?” you hear Santana call.

You look around the club and see Santana walking out of the back. A smile crossed her face when she sees you, “Hey.” Then her smile fades when she sees Quinn. She swallows and forces another smile, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Quinn says timidly.

You take in Santana’s dirty shirt and trousers, “Electrical problems?”

Santana chuckles, “Yeah.”

“Where at?” you ask.

“Under the stage. There’s another singer coming tonight and I bought a new microphone. I’m trying to… I don’t know,” she shrugs.

You hug her and kiss her head, “I’ll fix it.”

She eyes Quinn as you get some pants from behind the bar, “Oh, San, this is my friend Quinn. Quinn this is my girlfriend, Santana.”

“Girlfriend?” Quinn asks, her voice rising in pitch.

You pull on the pants under your dress, “Yeah.” You’re a little pissed at Quinn for showing up today and telling you that she’s lonely when she knows that you can’t resist that. You’re also pissed that she was surprised that you found some other woman to be with, like she was the only one, “Like you and I were, except she’s not scared to be with me and she won’t almost kiss me then tell me that what we’re doing is wrong.”

“She’s your ex?” Santana asks.

You shake your head, “I’m her ex-neighbor.”

“Oh, she’s that one,” Santana says. You’ve told Santana about Quinn before. Santana feels like Quinn is repressed and just needs some help coming out. You were a little less kind.

Quinn looks at Santana, “Which one?”

“Would you like a drink?” Santana asks Quinn.

Quinn politely accepts and you get to working on the microphone while they sit at one of the tables.

“What did she tell you about me?” Quinn asks softly.

Santana pauses, “That you two were…almost intimate.”

An unsettling silence rests between them before Santana adds, “You don’t have to worry. I opened up this club so that everyone could have somewhere to be themselves.”

You can see the look on Quinn’s face now. The confusion and the panic. Someone knows that she had feelings for another woman. You don’t want her to become upset, but you trust that Santana can calm her down. You’ve seen Santana make the most skittish of newcomers relax.

“I-I’m not gay,” Quinn stumbles out.

You roll your eyes as you lay down under the stage and pick up the wire strippers. You’ve heard that one before.

“You don’t have to be gay. No one is accusing you of anything,” Santana states calmly. “You can just hang out here for as long as you want.”

“I um,” Quinn stumbles, “I…I’m not saying that I am, but… how did you know?”

You can feel Santana’s smile from where you are under the stage. She has a kind smile when she’s talking to people about this. You know she likes helping people with this kind of thing. No matter her job or how legal it is or isn’t, you know she’s an amazing person.

You listen to the story as you fix the microphone and then step up on the stage.

“So are you in love with Brittany?” Quinn asks quietly.

You watch Santana. She turns to you with a huge smile on her face and nods, “I am.”

“Me too,” you say into the microphone and hear it echo through the club. You’re really happy right now so you look to Quinn, “C’mon. Come sing something.”

“I can’t,” she shakes her head modestly.

“There’s no one here,” Santana smiles at her, “What do you have to lose?”

That was enough. Quinn starts singing while you and Santana get the club ready. You see someone walk in before you open, but you’ve never seen Santana turn anyone away.

“Hey,” the woman walks up to you, “Is Santana around?”

You lean on the bar and smiles, “She’s in the back. Can I help you?”

The woman smiles wide, “I’m the entertainment for tonight.”

“Oh, you must be Mercedes,” you remember having this talk with Santana. “Where’s your entourage?”

She laughs heartily, “They’re bringing in my stuff.” She gestures her to plain blue dress, “I can’t go on in front of a bunch of fabulous men until less I’m all sequined up.”

You chuckle. Santana walks out from the back and hugs Mercedes. Santana tells her that she set up the back room for her dressing room. As they’re walking toward it, Mercedes stops in the middle of the club and looks at Quinn who is still crooning out a low slow song. “Ooh that child has some pain,” Mercedes shakes her head, “But she’s good.”

You look up at Quinn. Now that Mercedes pointed it out, you can see it. You hope that she finds a way to not have that kind of pain anymore.

Santana just lets Quinn keep singing as people start to file in. Quinn starts to notice people milling around and almost stops, but a round of applause encourages her. Santana walks up to the stage and talked to her for a few seconds. Then Quinn smiles and starts singing along with accompaniment by Brad. You’re glad he’s bad. You miss his grumpy face.

“You didn’t tell me that your ex could sing,” Santana slides up behind the bar next to you.

“Whoa that’s your ex?” Sam asks and grins, “High five!” He raises his hand, but lowers it after a glare from Santana. Sam averts his eyes, “Your current girlfriend is way hotter and can sing so much better.”

You can see a smile try to fight its way onto Santana’s face. You just put your arm around her waist and pull her to you. You rest your forehead on hers, “You weren’t jealous when I walked in with her.”

“I was,” she smirks, “I’m good at hiding it.” She steals a kiss before starting to tend her bar.

Mercedes goes on after Quinn and damn Santana sure knows how to bring in the entertainment.

Quinn decides that she likes the club and sticks around. There are a couple of gentlemen in the back who she has become fast friends with.

“Rachel!” Sam calls when he sees her walk in with her entourage.

She grins, “Hey Sammy.”

Santana leans on the bar to talk to Rachel, “Need a drink?”

Rachel nods, “A double. It’s been a long day.” She gestures to the guys behind her, “Whatever they drink is on me.”

Santana nods and pours Rachel a drink. She sits at the bar and looks at Sam. He’s leaning on the bar, watching the diva on the stage. Rachel smiles and wiggles her eyebrows. She whispers loudly, “I think Sammy is in love.”

Santana laughs and hits Sam with a bar towel. It seems to snap him out of his trance. Santana grins, “Back to work, Evans.”

You keep an eye on Quinn just to make sure she’s okay. She’s making friends. You feel like she’s so isolated out in the suburbs that she doesn’t have much opportunity to meet people her age. She got married right out of high school and moved in next door to you with her husband.

You look over to your right and see Santana lighting a cigarette. You pick up a water and walk behind her. As you pass her you take the cigarette and stick it between your lips, “Thanks babe.”

“Thief,” she calls after you.

You chuckle and drop off the water.

As usual you leave early to set up the diner. Sam and Quinn come with you and Quinn jumps in to help.

Then Santana arrives with the huge crowd. She mostly hangs out in the kitchen because Quinn is busy doing what she’s doing.

“I think Quinn needs to get out more,” Santana says, sitting on her usual perch on the counter.

You nod. “How do you know exactly what I was thinking?”

“We’re in tune,” she grins as you pour a few more pancakes. “Do you think she could work here a few days a week? I can pay for it if you need me to. I just think she needs to be free maybe make a little money on her own.”

You grin and turn around to her. You kiss her, “You’re amazing.”

She chuckles, “I know that. But you can be specific.”

“Thinking about Quinn. Even though you’re jealous,” you add. You know that Santana didn’t think you noticed that she always made sure to be in between you and Quinn or at least present.

She shrugs, “She’s you. And she’s me. And she’s every gay person that’s scared to be who they are because some people decided that it’s wrong.”

You nod. You know that she’s right.

When dinner is over, you clean up the kitchen with Santana and meet Sam and Quinn in the dining room. They’re sitting with Rachel who is telling them some kind of story. You haven’t seen Quinn smile that wide in a while.

Quinn looks up and sees you as she’s taking off the apron you let her borrow. Then she looks up at the clock. “Goodness, it’s late.”

“You’re not going to go by yourself all the way back to the suburbs are you?” Santana asks.

“I was… planning to,” she says quietly.

“No you won’t,” Rachel speaks up, “You’ll come stay in my hotel with me. The view is great.”

You’re glad she’s not going home. Her husband probably isn’t home anyway. If anyone asks your parents will tell them that she’s just in the city visiting you.

Quinn agrees to go with Rachel and Santana gets Sam to walk them back to the hotel. You duck outside and grab the ashtray. “What are you doing?” Santana asks.

“I have to empty this out,” you tell her. “I’m just going to take it to the dumpster out back and refill it.”

“I’ll take it out,” Santana kiss you and take it from under your arm.

You smile and go to the storeroom to get the clean sand. You get an idea and put some in a bowl. When Santana gets back, you refill it and put it back outside. Then you take your bowl of sand and Santana up the stairs.

You set the bowl down and kiss her in front of the bed. She smiles back, “What’s going on?”

You smile at her, “I’ve gotten really good at this.” You dance her slowly to the bed. Then you make sure that she’s comfortable before you take a handful of the clean sand out of the bowl. You sprinkle it across the hard floor and then slip on your tap shoes that are by the door. Then you just start dancing. You dance slowly and softly, the light scraping noise of the sand against your shoe is soothing. The sand not only deadens the sound, but it also makes each tap seem far away.

The soft patting and the crunch of the sand under your feet as you dance a little tap number seems to be working. You see Santana’s eyes start to droop with a euphoric smile resting on her lips.


	13. Chapter 13

“What are you doing down here?” you ask Santana. It’s the morning rush and Santana has made her way downstairs. You left her upstairs to sleep because she was so tired before she fell asleep last night.

“I came to see if you needed help,” she leans on the counter opposite you.

You shake your head, “Sam and Quinn are here. You can go back to bed.”

Santana peeks out the window, “Is Rachel out there? I wanted to talk to her.”

You nod. “She’s sitting at the counter on the end.”

“Thanks,” she kisses your cheek. “Let me know if you need any help.”

“Wait,” you tell her. She stops and turns around. You pick up a plate and put a few pancakes on it with some eggs and bacon. Then you hand it to her.

“What table?” she asks, assuming you want her to take it to someone who ordered it in the dining room.

“It’s for you,” you smile at her.

She smiles and hugs you. “Thank you babe.” She starts to walk out again, but places her plate on the counter and turns back to you, “I’m going to eat in here with you. Do you want some coffee?”

You nod and she steps out. You hear her talk to Rachel for a few minutes about singing in the club. Rachel insists that Quinn get to sing which Santana readily agrees to. Sam asks if Mercedes is going to come back and Santana catches your eyes through the pass through window. You both share a grin over Sam being smitten with the diva.

After some more chatter that you can’t make out, Sam and Santana come back to the kitchen and Santana says, “Sam has something he wants to say.”

You turn to them and see Sam nervously tap his knuckles together. “I, um, was wondering if sometimes it would be okay if I work in the kitchen.”

You wouldn’t admit it if he didn’t bring it up, but you miss being outside with the customers. It gets lonely in the kitchen and although you can kiss Santana back here when Sam is blocking the window, when she goes out to help, you miss being out in the dining room. So you nod, “Sure. Do you know how to make the stuff?”

He nods, “I used to make breakfast for my family.”

You look over the grill. “Everything is really easy. If you have any questions, I’ll be outside.” You hand him your apron and spatula. He looks surprised, but smiles widely once he realizes that you agreed immediately. He puts on the apron and looks at the grill. You watch him for a while and he does pretty well. All the hard stuff is already done so you and Santana make you way out of the kitchen and into the dining room.

You smile when you see Quinn laughing with some of the customers. You felt bad leaving her in the suburbs. You only saw her really laugh when she was alone with you and seeing her this happy makes you happy.

Then you watch Santana grab two plates and make her way across the room. She sets the plates down at a table and smiles at the two men sitting there. She says something and they all laugh. Then she picks up the check at an adjacent table and takes it to the cash register.

As you’re working, you see two familiar faces walk in. You grin and walk over to your parents, “What are you doing here?”

“We’re hungry,” your dad hugs you and smiles.

You show them to the last empty table and take their drink orders. You get your parents’ coffee and on your way back, you find that Santana is already at the table, taking their food orders. Before you get there, Santana says something that makes them laugh. It strikes you that this is the first time they’re meeting her. You’re glad that they seem to like her.

Santana turns to take the order to Sam just as you get there. She waves her order pad with a grin, “I already got their order. Stay in your own section, doll.” She subtly swats your ass with the pad and walks to the counter.

You drop of your parents’ coffee and lean on the booth next to your mom. You glance at the counter. Quinn and Santana are standing behind it. Quinn uses her pen to gesture at your parents and says something. Santana’s eyes get wide and a look of terror takes over her face. She waves you over when she catches your eyes.

You tell your parents that you’ll come back to talk to them. When you get to the counter, Santana whispers, “You didn’t tell me those were your parents.”

“You didn’t give me a chance,” you smile at the look on her face.

“I flirted with your dad!” she whispers loudly.

You cover your mouth to hide your smile.

She rolls her eyes, “I can’t go back over there.”

“But they’re in your section,” you grin at her. You glance behind her to see Quinn and Rachel snickering. You raise your eyebrows at them, trying to get them to stop before Santana sees.

She really does look nervous so you touch her shoulder, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take their table.”

She shakes her head, “No. I, um, I need to get over it. They’re just customers right?”

“Right,” you smile. “And they’ll love you.” Of course, you don’t know how much they’ll love her once they find out what you both have been doing upstairs at night.

Sam rings the bell and your parents’ food is up. Santana grabs it and pauses to take a few breaths before walking across the dining room to them.

You keep your eye on her. You can see how tense she is so when your dad stops her to ask her something, you walk over to them.

“I’m from The Bronx,” Santana explains. “I grew up there.”

“How is everything?” you interrupt, leaning on the back of the your mom’s side of the booth.

“It’s great,” your dad smiles, “Who is in the kitchen? These eggs are great.”

“Sam,” you tell him. “He asked if he could be in the kitchen and I missed being out here. He’s a good cook.”

“I see that Quinn is having a good time,” your mom interjects.

You follow your mom’s eyes and see Quinn laughing with some of the guys that are stopping for breakfast before work. “Yeah, Santana thought that Quinn could come work here a few mornings a week. You know to get out some more so she won’t be alone all the time.”

“That’s a lot of people on the payroll,” your mom comments. It’s a little of a backhanded comment.

Santana is quick to defend you, “Just Sam and Quinn.”

“You don’t get paid?” your dad asks.

Santana shakes her head, “I do this for fun.”

“Really?” your mom asks.

“The people are great and I get to work with my friends,” Santana flashes a smile and sees someone in her section flagging her down, “Excuse me.”

“You have some great friends,” your dad smiles. You knew he’d be supportive.

You want to tell him about Santana. You want to tell him about how she makes you happier than you’ve ever been. You look down and scrape your toe against the ground. You don’t know when would be a good time.

“Is that Rachel Berry?” your mom asks.

You again follow her eyes and see Rachel sitting at the counter. She’s sipping on some coffee and smoking a cigarette. “Yeah. She’s Santana’s friend.”

“She’s amazing,” your mom gushes.

You chuckle and walk over to the counter, “Hey Rachel. My mom is a big fan.”

Rachel grins and places her cigarette in the ashtray. “Where is she?”

You point her out and Rachel goes over to their table. You didn’t know Rachel was famous or that your mom really knew anything about music.

You take a moment to watch everyone in the diner. Quinn and Santana move around easily taking orders and delivering plates. Sam is doing great at the window. You feel like you could walk out of the diner right now and everyone would keep working the way it should. That’s such a great feeling.

You imagine what it would be like if you could get the diner to run on it’s own and Santana could get her clubs where she wants them to be. You could dance at the club and she could sing when you wanted to, but there would be no pressure. You’d just do it when you felt like it.

You could sleep in and go out to dinner more often. You’re both making decent incomes so you could travel. You’ve always wanted to take a train up to Vermont to stay in a cabin in the mountains. You’ve heard great travel stories from the diners that come through here. You want to make your own travel stories.

You look over at Rachel who is with your parents. Your mom can’t wipe the smile from her face and your dad clearly finds it amusing. Then you find Quinn, standing at the pass through window joking with Sam.

Then you see Santana. She’s cleaning up an empty table. After she stacks the plates and picks them up, she catches you looking. With a wink, she mouths, “I love you” and then disappears into the kitchen.

You follow her into the kitchen. After she drops the dishes into the soapy water, you grab her by her shirt and pull her into the storeroom. You kiss her so hard that her back hits the shelves.

She giggles when you break the kiss. “What was that for?”

“I missed kissing you,” you grin and nip at her neck. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she treads her fingers into your hair and pulls you back in for a deep kiss.

“Santana!” Quinn calls, “Someone in your section wants you.”

Santana chuckles, “I have to go back to work.”

She starts to walk away, but you grab her arm and kiss her again. “One more thing,” you pause to kiss her one last time because you can’t get enough, “How do you feel about Vermont?”


	14. Chapter 14

“I was right!” Santana runs into your room waiving a newspaper.

You blink and sit up, “About what?” You’re still a little groggy and have no idea what time it is.

She hands you the newspaper. In huge print on the front page it says “Prohibition To Be Repealed!”

You breathe out a soft sigh of relief. You don’t have to worry anymore about Santana being arrested. That takes a huge weight off of your shoulders. You always worry about her even though she doesn’t want you to. She’s waved you off a number of times when you tell her that you do.

She kisses your neck and you can feel her hand crawl up under your dress. You love it when she gets frisky like this. It’s usually after some good news. You love that she loves to celebrate by being with you. It’s like sex with you can make a perfect day even better. You know that sex with her can make anything amazing. She licks up your neck before she bites softly. You let out a low moan and pull at her shirt.

She murmurs something in Spanish that is so much sexier because you don’t know what it means. It’s beautiful and turns you on so much more. So you guide her in for a deep, passionate kiss that’s all tongue and teeth.

You’re interrupted by a frantic banging on the door. The door flies open and Santana jumps off of you. Quinn is in the doorway. She turns to look down the stairs, “Oh, do you need help with that lamp Mrs. Peirce?” She gives you and Santana a sideways glance before going down the stairs.

That was Quinn’s way of warning you that your mom is coming. You’re just glad that she was working downstairs while you were sleeping. Otherwise your mom would have caught you and Santana doing something you never want your parents to see. Or anyone else because sex with her is beautiful and you don’t want to share it with anyone else. It might also give your mom a heart attack.

You sit up in the bed and straighten your hair. Santana does much the same standing up and slowly backing away from you. Then Santana walks to the door that leads to the alley. Your mother always makes her immensely uncomfortable. You understand though. Your mom sometimes makes you uncomfortable as well.

You don’t panic though. You know that she’s just going to go through the alley and then walk around the corner to the front door of the diner. She’ll help Sam while Quinn is gone.

Your mom appears in the doorway and Quinn steps up behind her with a lamp. Your mom smiles, “I brought you a lamp.”

You look it over. It’s kinda cute. “Thanks.”

Quinn sets the lamp down on the dresser and says, “I’m meeting Rachel for lunch. Is it okay if I take off a little early?”

You nod, “Of course. Tell Santana that you’re leaving.” You pause, “Wasn’t Rachel supposed to leave town?”

“She decided to stick around,” Quinn gives you a coy, mysterious smile. You don’t know if it means what you think it means, but you’re happy that she’s happy.

When Quinn leaves, your mom stands awkwardly in your bedroom. You clear your throat, “Are you okay?”

Your mom nods. “I am. Are you?”

“I’m great,” you say and walk to your closet to get dressed.

“You haven’t been home for a while,” your mom says.

You think about it. Yeah it’s been almost two weeks since you went home. You know that you need to go talk to them, but you also know that you need to tell them about you and Santana. You want them to like Santana and you want Santana to like your parents and not be scared of your mom.

“Mom,” you bite your lip and step out of the closet. “Can I bring Santana to dinner?”

Your mom looks surprised at first, but she breaks out a smile, “Of course.”

You nod. “Okay. I’ll talk to her and then I’ll call you to tell you when we’re coming.”

She gives you a hug and smile before she leaves. Then you get dressed and go downstairs to the diner. You check on Sam who is doing well and then you walk into the dining room. Quinn and Santana are serving. Santana walks over to the cash register and dumps some bills into the tip jar.

You know she never takes any tips home. She tells Quinn and Sam that she does so that they don’t feel bad taking hers, but you know this is just fun for her. She likes being around people and hanging out with you. She likes waking you up in the morning now that you let Sam open up for you.

“Can I talk to you?” you ask her as she passes by you to get coffee.

“Sure. I was about to take my smoking break,” she shoots you a wink. After she hands a man a cup of coffee, she follows you out to the alley door. There is a pack of cigarettes stuck in a hole in the building where one of the brick fell out. She puts one in her lips and retrieves some matches from the hole as well.

She offers you a drag which you take before handing it back. There’s a small alcove by the door that you step back into and pull her with you so that no one passing on the street can see you. You kiss her, letting smoke drift out of the gaps between your lips.

She chuckles, “I love it when you talk to me like that.”

“I actually have something to ask you,” you confess, “I was wondering if you wanted to come have dinner with me and my parents some night.”

“With your mom?” she asks with a quirked eyebrow. You knew she wouldn’t be keen on the whole idea.

“It would mean a lot to me,” you attempt to get her to come. You really want them to get along. You feel like it would make telling your parents a whole lot easier.

She bites her lip and shifts her weight from one foot to another. “Yeah, okay.”

You smile and hug her, “Thank you. When do you want to go?”

She shrugs, “Whenever.”

“Tomorrow night it is,” you drop your arms from her and take her hand. “It’ll be great. If it makes you feel better, Quinn can come.”

“I like that,” she says. She turns around and motions Quinn to her. When the blonde walks over, Santana says, “Would you like to have dinner at the Pierce house tomorrow night?”

“Sure,” Quinn says, “You’re coming?”

Santana looks uncomfortable against and looks to you. “Yeah.”

“If we bring Rachel, Brittany’s mom won’t even know you’re there,” Quinn says semi-quietly.

“Rachel!” Santana calls and walks over to the counter where Rachel is seated.

“So she’s living in New York now?” you ask Quinn about Rachel.

Quinn grins and nods. “Yeah. She told me that I could move into her spare bedroom if I decide to leave Rick.”

“You’re going to leave him?” you ask. It hurts a little that she’s seriously thinking about it now, when she wouldn’t think about it for you.

Quinn smiles softly, “I’m sorry.” She touches your arm, “I wasn’t ready to be myself yet. But this way you got to meet Santana and I got to meet…” She trails off and looks away.

You grin, “Who did you meet?” You look around the restaurant and try to find who she’s talking about. Then it clicks for you and your eyes widen, “Rachel?”

“We haven’t done anything and she doesn’t know how I feel,” Quinn whispers, “Please don’t say anything.” Her eyes are desperate. You’ve seen that panicked look on her face before. She’s still struggling.

You pick up her hand and swing it between the two of you, “I won’t tell.” You let out a smile, “I’m glad you’re happy.”

“I think I have you and Santana to thank for that,” Quinn chuckles, “You walked me to the door and Santana shoved me the rest of the way out.”

That sounds about right. You smile. Santana talked to her for a few minutes and then threw her into the deep end.

You hug Quinn before she goes back to work. She’s come so far and you know that it was a long hard road for her. You just kind of accepted it about yourself, but hid it. You’re still sort of hiding though…

When the breakfast rush is over, you and Santana leave Sam, Quinn, and Rachel alone to go buy a new pair of tap shoes for you. You’ve already worn out the first ones Santana bought you.

Mike smiles when you walk in the door. You hold up your worn out shoes and he laughs, “I guess we need to find you some more durable shoes huh?”

Santana borrows Mike’s phone to make a few calls. You notice that she only lowers her voice when Mike is in the room. When it’s just you and her, she talks in a normal voice, sometimes even yelling. She trusts you now with what she does. You still only know the vague details, but that’s enough for now.

Of course when she starts talking in Spanish you have no idea what she’s saying. You wonder who she’s talking to. When Mike some back with some shoes, you try them on and they fit perfectly. When you try to pay for them, he waves you off.

You’re ready to go so Santana finishes up on the phone and hangs up. Then she digs in her pocket for some money and lays it on the counter saying that it’s “For the calls.” That makes sense you guess. She has been calling people across the ocean for days.

Then you head to the Bronx for lunch. You’ve been craving the colorful found in your second favorite borough. When you’re seated in the small café, you smile across the table at her.

“What?” she asks.

You chuckle, “Nothing. You’re just really pretty.”

She laughs and shakes her head, “That’s it?”

“And you’re smart and sweet,” you grin.

She wrinkles her nose in that adorable way she does when she can’t believe that someone has the audacity to call her sweet. But she smiles and you know she’s really just flattered.

After lunch, Santana pays for it and you make your way back to the diner. Sam and Quinn have already locked up, so you pull Santana up to the bedroom and make her lay down with you.

“What are we going to do in Vermont?” Santana asks with her arm around you.

You snuggle into her and kiss her neck, “We can ski.”

“I’ve never been skiing,” she replies.

“Well then we can just cuddle in front of a fire in our cabin,” you pull her harder against you, “And go sledding.”

“I love you Brittany,” she kiss your forehead, “And I can’t wait to go to Vermont with you.”

She goes to the club before you, but you only arrive about an hour later. Everything goes like it normally does. Quinn sings a few songs, then Santana sings a few. Sam even gets up on the stage and croons a few out. You love the vibe of this club. Everything about it makes everyone comfortable. You love that Santana made a place like this.

So when you go home, you make love in your bed. You tell her that you love her right before you fall asleep.

“What am I going to wear?!” Santana yells from your closet where most of her clothes have found their way.

“Whatever you want,” you lay out on the bed, “It’s just dinner.”

“It’s dinner with your parents,” she steps out of the closet and drops most of her clothes on the bed. She starts sorting through them.

“Wear your navy blue dress with the white belt,” you offer.

She shakes her head, “I spilled gin on that a few nights ago. It’s at the cleaners.” She runs a hand through her hair, “Your mom doesn’t expect me to be like Quinn does she? All perfect housewife and all?”

“Just be yourself,” you tell her, trying to calm her.

“I can’t be myself. If I was myself, I’d hold your hand and kiss you,” she shakes her head, “Who I am is in love with you, which is making me crazy because I agreed to have dinner with your family.”

You roll off of the bed with a small smile, “It’s not crazy.” You wrap her up in your arms, “I love you and I promise that it’ll go fine. My dad like you and my mom doesn’t like anyone.”

“She likes Quinn,” Santana sighs.

“Quinn has been our neighbor for years,” you assure her, “She didn’t like Quinn at first either.”

“What made your mom like Quinn?” she asks, resting her head on your shoulder.

You pause, “Well Mom mostly liked her dresses and how she brought cookies or pie over once a week.”

Santana huffs and steps away from you, “That’s exactly what I mean. Quinn is everything that I’m not.”

“You’re right,” you take Santana’s hands, “You opened a club so that people could feel like they had somewhere to be themselves and Quinn needed someplace like that. You’ve been on your own and taking care of everyone around you. Quinn has everyone take care of her. You’re bold and you go after what you want.”

“Is she going to like me for those things?” Santana asks. You can see a vulnerability that not many people get to see from her.

You brush her hair out of her face, “She’ll love you because I do.”

Santana takes a few deep breaths and nods, “Okay. I’m okay. It’s just dinner. I’ll just stuff my face so I won’t have to say anything and everyone can look at Quinn.”

“I’ll be looking at you,” you kiss her forehead.

That seems to calm her and she gets dressed. Santana has her car parked on the street and Quinn is going to meet you at your parents’ house. Then on the way back, Quinn is going to pack her things and put them in Santana’s car and you’re all going to Rachel’s apartment.

Santana opens your door for you and you grin. You kiss her cheek and sit in the seat. You don’t care who saw that. You just want her to know that you care about her.

She drives into your neighborhood and she starts to get really nervous. You move into the middle of the bench seat and hold her hand. “It’s okay Santana. Quinn and I will be there.”

When you walk to the front door, you open it and Santana hesitantly steps in behind you. She wanted to go next door and make sure Quinn was already here, but you pulled her inside.

“Mom!” you call, “Dad!"

Your dad walks into the living room and smiles, “There’s my girl.” He hugs you and kisses your head. “And my favorite waitress,” he moves from you to Santana. You can see Santana attempt to shake your dad’s hand, but he hugs her anyway. You chuckle.

“Thank you for having me over for dinner,” Santana says politely to your dad.

“Any friend of Brittany’s is always welcome for dinner,” your dad puts his arm around your shoulders. “Quinn and your mom are in the kitchen and Rick is in the den.”

“Rick is here?” you stop dead. You panic and look over at Santana. Quinn was supposed to leave him tonight.

“Yeah your mom saw that he was home and invited both of them over,” he explains.

“I’m going to go say hi to _Rick_ ,” Santana says and starts walking toward the den.

You trot over to her and grab her hand. You whisper, “Don’t do anything yet. Just… let’s get through dinner and we’ll go over to their house and talk to them. Calmly.”

Santana frowns. She bites her lip, “Fine. I won’t say anything.”

“Thank you,” you pat her shoulder and make your way to the kitchen. Santana decides to come with you and sticks close behind. When she sees Quinn she breaks off to hug her and then jumps in, helping Quinn set the table. You can hear them muttering to each other. Quinn doesn’t seem happy at all.

“Hey honey,” your mom says and hugs you. She look behind you to see Quinn and Santana in the dining room. “Is that your friend?”

“Yeah,” you nod. “You met her at the diner.”

“I remember,” she nods and eyes Santana from afar, “Where did you meet her?”

“At the diner,” you state. You’ve rehearsed this story. “Santana came in one day for lunch and we became friends. Best friends,” you add.

You mom nods and then goes back to whatever she was doing.

You walk into the living room. You catch the end of Santana’s statement, “Whatever you decide, Brittany and I are here for you.”

Quinn nods with her eyes glued to the floor.

You walk over to her as Santana goes back to the kitchen to get some glasses. You take Quinn’s hands and look her in the eyes, “Quinn,” you try to think of a way to word it. You take a deep breath, “Quinn, you deserve to be happy.”

“I know,” Quinn nods slowly.

“Does being with Rick make you happy?” you ask her quietly so no one else can hear.

She holds your eyes and shakes your head.

“We just have to get through dinner and then you can be done,” you offer a small smile, “And you can move in with Rachel and have your own job and do whatever you want whenever you want.”

That brings a smile to her face. She hugs you and you hold her for a moment so that she can gather her courage. “Thank you Brittany.”

You rub her back, “No problem.”

“Dinner’s ready,” your mom calls and you pull away from Quinn as everyone convenes in the dining room.

Your father and Rick sit down first. Santana sits down next to Rick before Quinn can. Quinn and Santana share a small smile before Quinn sits down next to you. Your mom and dad sit at the heads of the table.

Your dad looks over at everyone and smiles, “Let’s dig in.”


	15. Chapter 15

The food gets passed around and everyone starts eating. “How’s the diner going?” your dad asks.

“Great,” you mention. “Quinn is fantastic with the customers.” You look next to you and share a smile with her. She smiles back.

“It’s fun working there,” Quinn adds, “There’s so many interesting people.”

Your mom throws her silverware down and they clatter against her plate. Everyone looks at her, startled. She looks all around the table, “Is everyone just going to ignore what’s going on?”

“What are you talking about?” you ask her. Panic fills your whole body. You look across the table at Santana. She looks like she’s about to say something, to diffuse everything.

“You and Quinn,” your mom says, “You think we didn’t know, but I saw you two together.” Your mother is hysterical. “I saw you two…canoodling.”

“When?” you wrinkle your nose and ask, “What are you talking about? Canoodling?”

“Before you moved,” your mother says, her voice slowly rising. “You were sleeping together!”

“No they weren’t!” Santana stands up, stopping your mother from talking, “Quinn and I were.”

“Hot!” Rick grins and looks around the table. He takes a bite of his roll.

Quinn stands up as well, “And I’m leaving Rick.”

“Not hot,” Rick frowns, still eating his mashed potatoes.

“Get out of my house!” your mom roars at them both, shooting to her feet. Her finger is pointed toward the door.

Before you were just frozen in your seat watching the scene play out in front of you, but now you have to speak . “Wait.”

Everyone stops and looks at you, expectantly.

You slowly rise and know that you have to tell the truth. “Santana never slept with Quinn. I never did either. We didn’t even kiss. But… I’m in love with Santana.”

You expect her to yell. You expect her to throw you out of the house. What you don’t expect is for tears to fill her eyes and for her to silently retreat to the back of the house.

You feel tears fill your eyes and you try to hold it together. It would have been better if she would have screamed at you. At least that way you could have screamed back. You could have defended yourself. But you’re just left standing there, crying.

“Can someone tell me what is going on?” Rick says. He cuts up a piece of his chicken, dips it in the gravy and puts it in his mouth as he looks around.

You look to the only person in the room that hasn’t said anything. Your dad is just sitting at the end of the table. You need him to say something or to move. “Dad?”

He looks up at you and then he places his hands on the table, hefting himself up. He steps around the table and stands in front of you. There’s a moment where you’re frightened for what will happen next. Then he envelopes you in his arms.

You lean into him and let out your tears. You wonder what he thinks. You open your eyes and look at Santana from your dad’s arms. She smiles at you with a small tender smile. She mouths _I love you_.

She looks to Quinn who is cleaning up the dinner table while her husband continues to eat. You close your eyes. You can hear Santana say something. It’s a murmur, but you think you hear her tell Quinn that she’ll start loading up the car.

Santana walks outside and after Quinn puts up the leftovers, she goes outside as well. Your dad finally lets you go. You look up at him. You have to ask, “Do you hate me?”

“I could never hate you,” he smiles at you. “There was a time here a few years ago that this wouldn’t have been a big deal. But things change. I just want you to be careful. I love you. You’re my baby girl.” He rests his hands on your shoulders and looks toward the back of the house. “I’m going to go talk to your mother. I’ll come by the diner tomorrow morning and we’ll have breakfast. You, me, and Santana.”

You nod and wipe your face, “Thank you daddy.”

He kisses your forehead. “I love you. No matter what.”

You lick your lips, “I love you too.”

You turn and see that both Quinn and Santana are gone, but Rick is still sitting at the table by himself and eating. You turn to your dad who shakes his head and barks, “Get out of my house, son!”

“But I’m not done,” Rick says, gravy dribbling down his chin.

“Out!” your dad yells.

He’s not really an intimidating man in regular life, but when he yells Rick grabs a chicken breast and runs out the door.

“I have to go make sure Santana and Quinn are okay,” you say and quickly walk out the door. You feel your dad walking behind you. You can hear Rick and Santana yelling at each other on the front lawn while Quinn moves her things out to Santana’s car. It’s like Santana is distracting Rick for Quinn so that she can move her things out without interference.

You don’t know what to do. You just stand there and watch. You figure that all they’re going to do is yell until Rick hits Santana. She doesn’t fall, but she recoils. You and your dad start running toward them. But just before you get there Santana slugs Rick. He does fall down, but he doesn’t drop his chicken. He curses and strands back up, but now you and your dad are standing with Santana.

“Just let it go, Rick,” your dad says, trying to calm everyone, “It’s over.”

“Why did Quinn marry him?” Santana asks you in a whisper as she wipes off her cheek. You find that it’s bloodied and there’s a cut under her left eye.

You take her hand and pull her into your parents’ house. You tell her to sit on the counter in the kitchen and get a towel from the drawer. You run it under some cold water and gently wipe the blood away. You take a deep breath. You’re really shaken up. You’ve seen Santana with bruises that she made some lame excuse for and you’ve see her with that cut on her lip. You know that her profession is one of fighters, but you’ve never seen her take a hit before and it makes you anxious.

“Did he used to be hot or something?” Santana asks, seemingly not worried about whatever injury she has now. “Or is he rich?”

You reign in your feelings to answer, “I think Quinn just wanted to get married. She didn’t care who it was. Her parents wanted her to get married and be the perfect housewife. So she did.”

Santana runs a hand through her hair. She takes a deep breath, “We should go help Quinn.”

You remove the towel and look over Santana’s face. It’s getting swollen. You run the towel under cold water and wring it out. When you move back to her, you lean between her legs and kiss her. You place your hand on Santana’s waist and kiss her deeply. You feel tears run down your face and when Santana feels them, she breaks the kiss.

“What’s wrong?” she asks softly.

You wipe your eyes. “I just… I hated seeing you get hurt. I know – I know you can defend yourself, but you got hurt.” You feel more tears. “Santana, I love you so much and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Rick is just an idiot,” Santana says, trying to wave it off.

“It’s not just Rick,” you shake your head. “You have bruises and cuts and things that you won’t tell me.” You shake your head and feel more tears, “I just…I want it to be over. I want to go to Vermont and forget about everything.”

“It’s almost over,” she assures you. “Just a few more weeks and then everything is legit.” She cups your cheek and wipes your face clear with her thumb. “I promise. Then I can hire people and we’ll go wherever you want.”

“Promise?” you ask.

Santana nods, “Promise.” She smiles and kisses you.

You wrap your arms around her waist and lean into her. She holds you and kisses your cheek and then your neck. You feel her cradle the back of your head. Before Santana you used to have such a black and white interpretation of the world. People that fought were hard. But Santana can fight and love and be gentle. She’s hard, but she’s soft for you.

“Let’s go help Quinn, babe,” she says quietly. “Then we’ll go home and take a bath?”

You nod. “Okay.”

Outside, Rick is sitting on the curb, eating his chicken. He watches Quinn move her things and looks defeated, especially because of the brand new black eye he’s sporting. “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Rick says as Quinn puts something into Santana’s car.

Quinn just rolls her eyes and walks back into the house. You follow her into the house while Santana stays outside to watch Rick with your dad.

When you get inside Quinn instructs you to grab a box and then you walk out to the car with the last of her things. Santana walks to your door and opens it for you. Then she opens the door for Quinn and closes it behind her.

You see your dad stop Santana. They shake hands and then he hugs her. She smiles and gets into the car. As she drives off, you turn around in your seat to look at Quinn. You expect her to be sad or upset, but she’s smiling from ear to ear.  

When she sees you looking at her, she smiles wider, “I’m free.”

That makes the whole trip worth it. You sit back in your seat as Santana drives you back to the city. When she pulls to a stop in front of Rachel’s apartment, her goons are already outside. They tell you that Rachel’s waiting for you upstairs and that they’ll unload everything.

You take the elevator up and when the front door opens, you see Rachel. She’s pacing around her living room, her long sheer white gown cover flowing behind her. Her short white nightie is rippling with her movement. Her cigarette holder is dramatically long and is smoldering although you’re sure she hasn’t thought about smoking it.

“What’s wrong?” Quinn asks and descends into the sunken living room to Rachel.

Rachel whirls and throws her arms around Quinn. “Thank goodness you’re alright. I’ve been worried sick.”

“I’m fine,” Quinn smiles as she hugs Rachel.

You feel Santana take your hand and thread your fingers together. You smile and lean into her. “I think we should go.”

“Yeah,” Santana nods, “I doubt that they’d notice.”

You start to slip outside when Rachel stops you both. She gasps, “Santana! What happened to you?”

“Rick happened to her,” Quinn tells Rachel quietly.

Rachel sweeps over to you and Santana. Then she looks over Santana’s face. “He needs to rot in prison.”

“Santana did worse to him after he did that to her,” you explain. You really don’t want the police anywhere near Santana. At least not for a few more weeks.

Rachel picks up Santana’s hands and looks over her the cuts and bruises on her left hand. “I’m sorry. I should have sent Finn and Puck with you.”

“It’s fine,” Santana waves her off, “He didn’t touch Quinn or Brittany so it’s okay.” She pauses, “We’re going to go relax. Call us if you need anything.”

Quinn walks up to Santana and unexpectedly hugs her, “Thank you so much.”

Santana pats Quinn’s back and nods, “No problem.”

Then Quinn hugs you. “I’m sorry about what happened tonight.”

You shake your head, “It’ll be okay.”

When you leave, you go straight home. Santana draws a bath and you get into the bath together. Santana is leaning on one end of the tub and you’re on the other. Your legs are both tangled together, but you don’t mind. It’s comforting.

You stare into the water thinking about what your mom said. You’re pretty sure that she hates you now. You sniffle and hang your head.

“Babe,” Santana says. She takes your hand and pulls you to her. You’re moved so that you’re leaning back on Santana’s torso. Her arms around you. She kisses your wet shoulder. When she does that you lose it. You start sobbing again. All of those feelings that you put off to deal with Quinn and Rick come crashing down on you. You feel like you’re being suffocated.

Santana’s hold on you becomes tighter. She whispers comforting things in your ear trying to help you feel better. The only part that is helping is that she’s even trying.

Eventually she just gives up trying to make you feel better and just holds you. She’ll kiss you every now and then, but mostly she’s just here to support you.

Finally when the water gets cold, Santana stands out of the water. You can see goosebumps cover her skin, but she pulls you up and wraps you up in the towel. Then she moves you to the bed. She tucks you under the covers and then runs back to get a towel for herself. She returns in a large, white button down shirt. She crawls into bed with you and wraps her arms around you.

“Do you want a nightgown?” Santana asks softly.

You shake your head. You close your eyes and bury yourself into her. She starts stroking your damp hair and kisses your forehead.

You fee numb. You don’t think you can cry anymore. You sigh deeply and rest your head against her. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she tells you. “So much.”

“This doesn’t change anything,” you say softly.

“What do you mean?” she leans up on her elbow to look at you.

“No matter what my parents say, I love you,” you assure her.

“How do you always know exactly what I’m thinking?” she asks you. She’s wearing a slight smile. She drops her head down and kisses you.

You smile at her, “I just know you.” You pull her down and kiss her. You draw it out, moving her mouth with yours. You love just kissing her. You touch her jaw as you explore each other’s mouths in no rush at all.

She pulls her head back and closes her eyes for a moment. When her eyes slowly slide open she smiles. “I love doing that.”

“Then why’d you stop?” you ask, pulling her back down. You find all the comfort you’ll ever need in her kiss.

Eventually, you both become exhausted and decide to go to sleep. You kiss her one last time before snuggling into her, “We have to wake up early tomorrow.”

“Why is that?” she asks sleepily.

“We’re having breakfast with my dad,” you tell her, pulling her flush against you.

She hums, “Mmk.”

“I love you,” you kiss her lips, easily finding them even in the dark.

“I love you too,” she murmurs. “No matter what.”


	16. Chapter 16

Of course Santana stresses out about what she’s going to wear to breakfast. However this time you get her to get dressed rather quickly and downstairs. You think that she’s more comfortable because this time she’s on her turf. Sure, technically your dad owns the diner, but Santana is here more. She works here. She sleeps upstairs. And her friends are usually here.

You find that the last part is true when you find Sam, Quinn, and Rachel are already downstairs. You also find that Mercedes has stopped by. She says good morning to you both and Santana goes to talk to her while you scan the diner for your dad. He’s not in yet so you stop Quinn and tell her that as soon as the people in the booth farthest back leave, to mark it reserved. She nods, “Sure. What’s going on?”

“My dad is coming to have breakfast with Santana and me,” you explain. “You know what happened last night. It’s like Santana is getting to meet him against for the first time because last night was a…” your voice fades out. You clear your throat, “It was a mess.”

Quinn moves to you and hugs you, “It’ll be okay.”

You find it funny that when you and Quinn were almost together, she was never this bold in touching you. She’d barely hold your hand in her empty house on the couch. Now she hugs you in public. You guess that she was right last night. She’s free. Not only from Rick, but from her fear.

You feel a hand on your back as Quinn pulls away. You don’t have to look to know that it’s Santana. You force a smile. You don’t think you’re really convincing anyone. Especially after you cried until you didn’t have any more tears last night.

It just hurts that your mom would just…. Walk away like that. Especially after thinking that Quinn and Santana were together and yelling at them to get out of her house.

Santana just rubs the small of your back before leaning back on the counter, “Are you hungry?”

“Not yet,” you shake your head. “Coffee would be great though.”

Santana grabs a mug from under the counter and picks up the coffee pot. She pours you some and then adds cream and sugar like you like it. The way Santana set up the coffee makers and the coffee cans leaves so much more space on the counter. She’s made little changes all over the place that help the diner run so much smoother.

She hands you your coffee and you take a sip. It’s perfect.

“Your table is ready,” Quinn touches your shoulder.

You look to the booth and find that Quinn has already cleaned it. You thank her and then walk to the booth in the back with Santana right behind you. You slide in and Santana sits on the same side right next to you. She leans back in the booth and wraps her arm through yours, holding your hand on top of your thigh.

“Do you need anything?” she asks.

You drip your head down and rest is on Santana’s shoulder, “I’m okay. I just need you with me.”

“I won’t leave,” she swears.

You look up when Quinn walks to the table. She looks concerned to you, “Are you okay?”

You nod even though you’re not really sure.

“Do you gals want anything to eat?” she asks kindly.

You look at the door and see your dad step inside. He says hi to some of the regulars who are probably wondering where he’s been. You look back to Quinn, “Why don’t you start with three specials? And bring my dad some coffee.” Then you look at Santana. Her eyes are slightly pink from staying up with you most of the night, “Santana probably needs some coffee too.”

“Do I look that bad?” Santana asks when Quinn walks off.

You shake your head with a smile, “No. You’re beautiful.”

Your dad appears at the head of the table and slides in across from you and Santana. “How are you girls?” he asks with a hint of a smile.

You let out a full smile, “Tired.”

“I bet,” he nods, “Last night was…”

“Rough,” Santana finishes for him.

He nods and rests his arms on the table. “How’s your face?”

“I’m fine,” Santana waves him off. Miraculously, she pretty much is. She only has a slight bruise on her cheek, under her eyes and the cut where the skin broke is barely visible.

Quinn returns with the coffee and tells you that your order is almost ready. Your nods to her and asks how she is. She tells you that she’s great. You know that she’s so happy. She lives with Rachel now and she’s not stuck out in the suburbs all the time.

He licks his lips and turns to you and Santana again. You sense some bad news coming and take Santana’s hand. “Your mother is a little….it’s going to take her a little while to come around. I love you and you’re my baby girl and nothing is going to change that. I will still be coming into the city at least once a week to see you.”

You know exactly what that means. You swallow and try to hold back tears. You can barely choke out what your dad can’t bring himself to say, “She never wants me to go back home.”

He looks at you with large sorrowfully eyes. You know the answer to your own question. You feel sick. Santana wraps her arms around you and holds you as you feel the first tear trickle down your face. You wipe your eye and shake your head. You’re not going to cry. You’ve already cried so much.

You hear heavy plate being set on the table and know that the food is here. You look up at Quinn who is looking back at you, incredibly concerned. You force a smile and say, “Thank you.”

“Do you need anything else?” she asks. You feel like she’s asking more than just what she asked.

You shake your head, “No thanks.”

“I’ll grab some syrup for those pancakes,” Quinn adds and walks off.

You feel Santana rub your leg under the table. Normally it would be sexual and you’d drag her upstairs as fast as you could, but it’s not. With each slow stroke of her hand you understand that she understands and she wants to make everything better. You place your hand on top of hers. She looks at you and you take her hand in yours, running your thumbs over her bruised knuckles. You slip into a moment with her and rest your forehead on her shoulder. You feel her hand on the back of your head. She dips her head down so that your cheeks are touching, “Do you want to go upstairs?”

You take a deep breath and shake your head. You sit up and shake your head again. You take a deep breath. “I’m okay.”

“May I say something?” your father asks.

You nod and take Santana’s hand. It’s easy and you can both still eat. She’s left handed and you’re right handed so you can hold hands and pretend to eat at the same time. She’s just cutting up her food and you’re just pushing it around.

“I did come with some good news,” your father adds as he takes a bite of his pancakes.

You’re interested to know what that is.

“I’d like to take you down to my lawyer’s office and have some papers drawn up that make us partners,” he tells you with a smile. “Fifty, Fifty.”

You immediately beam and wish you could hug him across the table, “Really?”

“Of course,” he nods, “You’ve earned it. I’d give you all of it, but I still have bills to pay.”

You look next to you at Santana. She’s smiling like she’s never been more proud of anyone else. You throw your arms around her. She laughs and hugs you back. Then you make her get out of the booth so that you can get out and hug your dad.

Once you’re settled back into the booth and are actually eating your food, you find your dad looking at you. You quirk an eyebrow, “What?”

“Nothing,” he shakes his head with a smile, “Most of the old men I know will sit around telling stories saying, ‘Oh, I always pictured my daughter with a man like that.’” He shakes his head, “I never pictured you with any man. I pictured you free and doing what you wanted to do. When I tell them that they look at me like I’m some old fool, but I know that being free makes you happy.” He picks up his toast, “I used to think that being in a relationship meant you weren’t free.” He takes a bite of his toast and uses the piece that’s left to gesture between you and Santana, “Looking at you two, I can see that that isn’t true.”

You look over at Santana who seems shocked. She swallows and looks down at her plate. You squeeze her hand and look to your dad, “Thank you Daddy.”

You finally feel your appetite coming back so you start to eat your food. You and Santana do what you always do and share food. She eats off of your plate and you eat off of hers. When you finish your water and want some more, you drink some of hers. She doesn’t mind and you know that she’d readily offer it to you if you asked.

“Santana!” Mercedes calls from across the room. When you both look, Mercedes gestures for her to come over. There’s a very tall man next to Mercedes. You get a little worried and wish that Rachel’s goons were here. Not that Santana can’t take care of herself, but you wish she wouldn’t have to.

Santana politely excuses herself and walks over to Mercedes. Santana doesn’t look too happy. You’re glad that she’s talking to them behind your dad so he can’t see what’s going on and you can watch.

She doesn’t look too happy with Mercedes. Santana narrows her eyes and looks around shaking her head. Santana says a few words to the man who nods and walks out. Mercedes looks like she’s apologizing before Santana walks back to the table and sits down. She apologizes to your dad and says, “Sorry, Mercedes had a hair emergency.”

Your father smiles and nods, accepting the explanation although you know it’s a lie.

After breakfast your father excuses himself, but promises that he’ll call you and the three of you will have dinner soon. There’s a sharp pain in your heart when you remember that your mother refuses to be included in that.

Once he’s gone, you sit back down next to Santana, “What was that with Mercedes?”

“Someone she knows wanted to do,” Santana pauses and looks around, “ _Business_ with me. I told him to leave and then I told Mercedes to never bring people like that there again.” She takes a sip of her coffee, “but I’m meeting with him later today at the club.”

“You could have gone into the back,” you suggest.

Santana shake her head, “No. This is your place of business. It’s a legitimate place of business and until my business is on the up and up, I don’t want the two mixing any more than that my customers staggering over here to eat breakfast before going home.” She pauses, “Especially guys like him. They’re dangerous and I don’t want them around you

You frown, “What about you?”

“This is my life,” she tells you quietly, “I grew up around people like him and I can handle myself.” You don’t like the way she says that and you think she can tell. She takes your hand. “I’m not saying that you can’t. I’m saying that I don’t want you mixed up with those people. Just in case. You know that. And it’s almost over. I swear.”

“I know,” you dip your head down, “I’m sorry. I know it is. I just worry.” You offer her a shy smile. “Who is singing at the club tonight?”

“I was just going to let Rachel, Quinn, and Mercedes duke it out,” Santana chuckles, “I can’t complain though. They draw huge crowds.”

And when you get to the club that night you can see that Sam and Santana are preparing like that’s exactly what’s going to happen. You check everything on the stage, making sure all the microphones are working. Then you mess around with the piano.

As you’re trying to figure out a simple tune by ear, you hear a huge bang. You look up and see police flood in the front door. You’re panicked. You don’t know what to do. They’re all yelling and pointing guns everywhere.

Santana is behind the bar with her hands up. You follow her lead when one of the guns is pointed at you. Sam stands up from under one of the tables he was fixing with his hands up.

“Where’s your warrant?” Santana asks calmly.

One of the harder looking men walks up behind her and grabs her arm, pulling it roughly behind her back. Then she pushes her down onto the bar. You hear a slight thud as he hits her head. You want to do something, but you find yourself behind handcuffed. It’s a lot nicer though and when you see the face of the officer that’s handcuffing you. Karofsky looks really uncomfortable and mutters a tiny, “I’m sorry,” to you.

You, Santana, and Sam are all sat on the stage and handcuffed while all the police search the club. You feel sick while they snoop around the bar looking for the very illegal alcohol.

Santana doesn’t look too worried. She and Sam share a knowing look. You want to know too. You just look at Santana. She kisses your cheek, “Don’t worry about it.”

“But-” You start to say. Santana cuts you off with a look that says don’t day anything.

“There’s nothing here,” one of the men walks up to the man that slammed Santana into the bar.

“What do you mean?” he demands. He walks up to the bar and picks up a bottle. He picks up one of the bottles behind the bar that’s pressed against the mirror. You’ve never really seen anyone drink those, but you’ve seen Sam and Santana clean them.

He opens the bottle and smells it. Then he frowns and takes a swig. The man that reported to him says, “It’s Coca-Cola sir.” Then the man in charge makes a face and he adds, “And it’s old.”

The man spits the soda out onto the floor and looks at the three of you sitting on the stage. “Where is it?”

Santana flips her hair out of her face, revealing a red spot where her head banged into the bar, “Where is what?” She asks like she’s bored.

He glares at her and Santana smiles back. He turns to Karofsky whose job was to watch the three of you. He hits Karofsky’s shoulder, “Cut ‘em loose.” He turns around and looks at Santana, “We’ll get you next time.”

“I’ll make sure to get ice for your soda,” Santana snarks back.

He walks out and soon you’re left alone with Karofsky. He pulls his keys out and moves to Santana. Santana jerks her hands away from him, “Brittany first.”

Karofsky walks over to you and unlocks your handcuffs.

“Thanks for the warning,” Sam huffs as Karofsky cuts him loose.

“I didn’t know,” Karofsky answers quietly, glancing at the door. “I was about to get off of work to get ready and come here when they pulled me in for a raid.”

Santana doesn’t say anything when Karofsky uncuffs her. She looks at him, “We can’t do anything until you leave.”

Karofsky looks sad and nods. He shuffles to the door as Santana watches him with her arms crossed. Karofsky pauses at the door, “Can I come back?”

Santana’s face softens, “Of course.”

He lets out a small smile and a nod. Santana nods back.

When he’s gone, Santana looks at Sam and jerks her head toward the bar. Sam walks to the bar while Santana walks to you. She picks up your hands and examines your wrists. They’re sort of pink around where the cuffs were. She softly kisses all the way around both of your wrists, “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

You take your hand back and touch her face where she was hit, “What about you?”

“I’m fine,” she shakes her head, shaking off your hand. You can see her jaw clench, “I never wanted this to happen to you.”

You take her hands, “I’m fine. It’s not a big deal.”

She swallows. “I shouldn’t have – You’re,” she looks really frustrated and starts pacing in front of you, “I didn’t want you to – This is not the life for you. You’re – better than this. You shouldn’t be here.”

“Isn’t this a place where people can come to be themselves?” you ask her softly. You take her hand to stop her from pacing.

She nods slowly. “Yeah.” She sighs, defeated. She knows that you got her.

You step forward and pause before kissing her, “When I’m with you, I feel more like myself than I ever have.” You take a moment for that to sink in before you kiss her.

She wraps her arms around you and hugs you after you break the kiss. “I love you, Britt. I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Nothing happened,” you assure her, rubbing her back, “I’m okay and you’re okay. I love you.”

She takes a deep breath and steps back, “Since you already know what’s going on here and have been handcuffed, do you want to see how they didn’t find anything?”

You are extremely interested in how all that liquor disappeared.

Santana takes your hand and leads you to the bar. You’re so surprised to see a tap door open behind the bar. There are stairs that go down into a room under the floor that’s lit. Santana walks down the stairs first and helps you down.

In the tiny room, you can see what looks like a chute from under the bar. At the bottom, it looks like most of the bottles slid down the chute from their place under the bar. One of the bottles is broken, but it looks like the rest of them are resting easily in the chute. There’s also a barrel next to the chute. There’s a pipe connected to the top of it that runs straight up into the ceiling. You touch it, “What’s this?”

“The beer we have on tap,” Santana tells you. She grabs a few bottles and says, “C’mon.” She walks up the stairs and you follow her. She sets all the bottles on the bar and takes you behind the counter where the liquor is usually kept. There are two shelves that usually house them. Santana pushes down the top one on one end. Then she uses her foot to pull up the bottom one. You can see how the bottles on the top shelf would slide to the bottom before sliding into the hole where the bottom shelve disappears into.

“That’s amazing,” you smile, “Did you make that?”

“Sam and I did,” she tells you and sets the shelves back in place. “There’s just a level that I pulled to let the beer go.” She smiles slyly, “Like I said before. They never catch us.”

You step up to her and wrap your arms around her waist. You bury your face in her neck and close your eyes. “I love you.” You know that Santana has been so close to jail so many times. You never want to be apart from her. You think that you wouldn’t be able to sleep without her anymore.

“I love you too, Britt,” she kisses your neck. She takes a deep breath, “You’re the only person that’s ever made me want to get out of this business. This club used to be my whole world, but you’re…so much more important to me than that. I’ll never let anything happen to you.”

“You can’t leave me,” you whisper, knowing how close she came to jail, even tonight. Someday the lever might jam and the bottles don’t fall, and she’ll be caught.

“Never,” she says gently, “I’ll never leave you.” She takes a step back and looks into your eyes. “I’m getting out of this business as soon as I can. As soon as prohibition is done, we’ll never have to worry about the police again.”

“And we can go to Vermont?” you ask hopefully, “On a train.”

She lets out the biggest smile imaginable and kisses you lightly, “Then we’ll go to Vermont on a train as many times as you want.”


	17. Chapter 17

At the attorney’s office, you sign your name more times than you can count, but when you leave, you own 51% of the diner. Your dad wanted you to have control of the whole thing and be able to make decisions on your own. He promised that he was going to give you the rest of it when he had saved enough to retire completely, but it doesn’t matter to you. He could keep his 49% for the rest of your life and you would be just as happy.

Your dad asked you earlier in the morning if Santana would like to join the two of you for lunch at a steakhouse downtown. Santana agreed and she’s waiting for you at a table with a white tablecloth covering it. She stands up and kisses your cheek. Then she hugs your dad.

You all sit down and the waiter walks over. He gives Santana a sly smile that you’ve come to realize means he frequents the club. He brings complimentary appetizers and you look at Santana. She just grins and shrugs. One of the perks of running the premiere underground gay club you suppose.

“So,” your dad says as he sits across the square table from you. He looks at Santana who is perpendicular to him. “How are you?”

She smiles, “Fantastic.” You know that she’s ridiculously excited to be moving her business into the legal side of the law. Of course in preparation for that, she has been doing a lot of illegal things, but she’s promised that she’s being extremely careful. She has even started to sell legal beer. Of course she calls it swill because it tastes like dirty water and there’s almost no alcohol in it. Almost none of her customers will drink it, but you feel like it’s a good cover if the cops come in again.

The little storage room under the bar is almost full of liquor and hearty beer, which has become a hot seller now that it’s freezing outside. December has almost arrived and you’re waiting for Santana’s phone to ring and let you know that you can stop worrying so much.

Additionally you don’t think that you’ve ever seen her this happy. Usually she’s tired, but tries to hide it. You’ve never seen her this rested. It’s like she can see the light at the end of the tunnel and she’s come to realize, fully realize, that everything is going to be okay.

“Good,” your dad nods to her. Then he looks to you, “What about you, sweetheart?”

“Fantastic,” you grin and shoot a smile to Santana .She chuckles and bows her head, her nose wrinkling in the most adorable way.

“I’m so happy for you,” he smiles.

You tap your fingers and ask quietly, “How’s Mom?”

Your dad uncomfortably moves in his seat and you already to know his answer to the question that you didn’t really ask. You didn’t think it would hit you that hard, but when it does, you duck your head to keep yourself from falling apart.

“She’ll come around,” he says and puts his hand on your shoulder, “I talk to her every night about her. She still cares about you. She just doesn’t know how to deal with this new information.” He rubs your upper arm, “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

You feel fingers slowly walk their way across your thigh and slip themselves between your fingers. You look at Santana and gently squeeze her hand, acknowledging that you know she’s here for you.

But you can’t keep being sad about this. You have your dad and Santana and Quinn and Rachel and Sam and Mercedes in your life now. You have more love now than you know what to do with. You just have to trust your dad’s word that your mom will come around.

You run your thumbs over Santana’s knuckles. You don’t want her to feel bad about any of this. You know she does and she’s pretty convinced that it’s mostly her fault, but you know it’s not. You would have fallen for her no matter the circumstances.

She smiles the smile she has when she’s not sure if she should smile or not. You smile back and keep running your thumb over her hand.

The rest of the lunch is light and not too serious. You joke around with your dad and Santana. Santana asks your dad if he likes cigars and when he says yes, she produces a box of them from her purse. You have seen her smoke a few cigars, but in the club she sticks to the daintier cigarettes.

Then when you leave the restaurant, your hugs you and tells you that he loves you. Then he hugs Santana and thanks her from the cigars. Then he tells her to take care of you. You could tell him that she does, but it’s their moment and Santana promises.

You walk to the club with Santana and she opens the door with the key. Since it’s locked, you know that Sam’s not there.

“What are we doing today?” you ask, watching Santana set her purse down on one of the tables.

“I’m going to make a sign,” she tells you. “Grand Opening. Real Booze.” She smiles gleefully and walks over to you. “It’s about to happen.”

You smirk and take a few steps back as she advances on you. That stops abruptly when you back into a table. Santana takes the opportunity to pounce. She places both of her hands on the table, her arms trapping you.

She leans forward and almost kisses you. She stops short and you think she’s waiting for you to meet her in the middle. You surge forward because you can never resist her, but she pulls away, keeping the distance between your lips.

You understand that she’s playing a game, but you know that if she plays a game she wants to win. You just want to kiss her. “San…” you trail off and give her your best puppy eyes.

She rolls her eyes at herself and you know it’s because she’s going to give in. She leans forward and bites her lip as she presses her body against yours, trapping you between her and the table. A sly grin crosses her face. She dips her head down and when your lips touch you can’t help the moan that runs through your body.

She places her hand on the small of your back, pulling you back to her. Your whole body is pressed against hers and you move your hands to rest on the back of her neck.

This time when the kiss breaks, you do it. You pull her against you and hold her there. She wraps her arms around your middle, “Are you okay babe?”

“Yeah,” you pull back enough to smile at her, “I just love you a lot.”

“I love you too,” she says the smile fading from her face. You can see it in her eyes. She’s so seriously in love with you. You can see it when she looks at you.

It takes a little while for you to get to making the sign. You take your time making out on the table and when Santana starts making the sign, there’s nothing to fix so you watch her from the bar.

When she’s done, her sign looks just like it was printed professionally and all she did was paint canvas. You hug her to your chest when you see what she named the bar. She’s so sweet and you can’t wait to show her how much you appreciate her.

A few days later, you’re at the diner when Dave comes running in. He sees you first, but runs straight to Santana. He excitedly explains something to her and an insane happy look crosses her face.

You know that that means. Santana throws her apron on the counter and yells for Sam. They both run out the front door. Quinn walks back to the kitchen to take over while you turn the sign on the front door around. The people that were about to walk in look disappointed at the closed sign, but you shrug.

You quickly serve the rest of the people in the diner and throw the dirty dishes into the sink. When everyone is gone, Quinn runs to the payphone at the back. She explains excitedly to Rachel what’s going on. Then she calls Mercedes.

Quinn smiles widely and slips her arm through yours as you go upstairs. You grab both yours and Santana’s dresses from the closet and then walk down the alley stairs with Quinn who tells you that everyone is meeting at hers and Rachel’s apartment. You know that Santana and Sam aren’t going to be there, but you’ll meet them soon.

The elevator opens right into the living room of Rachel and Quinn’s apartment. You follow Quinn through a group of people that are bustling around. “What’s going on?” you ask Quinn.

Quinn looks around and finally finds Rachel. She’s sitting on the couch, a cigarette in one hand and a phone in the other. She’s giving someone directions to Santana’s bar. When she hands up, she sticks the cigarette in her mouth and picks the receiver up again.

Quinn smiles at you, “She’s inviting everyone she knows.”

After two more calls, Quinn gets Rachel to her bedroom to get dressed. Mercedes shows up a few minutes later with her entourage.

Then when everyone is dressed to the nines, you all take a small fleet of cars to the club. Mercedes and Rachel talk about who is going to sing when and decide on the duet to open the night.

It all seems so surreal. All these nice cars stopping in front of the bar garner so much attention that more people start to follow the caravan without really knowing why.

When you pull up to the front of the club, Quinn opens the door and helps Rachel out. Then she helps you and you see the sign hung over the stairs to the club, “P & L Bar. Best Booze In Town.”

You smile. You like the sound of that. Pierce& Lopez. Or Pierce-Lopez. You chuckle. Maybe you’ll bring that up later on.

“C’mon Brittany,” Rachel smiles in front of the door, “Let’s get this party started.”

You walk down the stairs and find the club already packed. Santana smiles so widely when she sees you. You walks behind the bar and take over for her so that she can change into her evening gown.

There are more people in the club than you think you’ve ever seen in your whole life. Mercedes, Quinn, Santana, and Rachel are all taking turns singing. Sam jumps up on the stage once to serenade Mercedes with the microphone.

“Brittany!” you hear over the crowd.

You turn around and see your dad. He’s in a suit and he looks as dapper as you’ve ever seen him. You hug him, “Daddy, what are you doing here?”

“Quinn called,” he smiles. “This is Santana’s place?”

You nod and look around. “Isn’t it great?”

“It is,” he nods. “I guess I don’t have to worry about her taking care of you anymore.”

“We take care of each other,” you assure him.

“I know you do,” he hugs you again.

You walk with him to the bar, “What do you want to drink?”

“Whiskey,” he says.

You walk behind the bar and pour it for him. He smiles and tries to pay, but you wave him off. You’ll pay for it later.

He takes a sip, “This is good.”

“Santana only has the best,” you tell him.

“She’s got you,” he chuckles, “That’s the best there is.”

Dave walks over and starts talking to your dad. You start serving other people and finally notice that Santana is missing.

You see Blaine, the piano player, sit down behind the upright. The cellar door is open and Sam is carrying more booze up. You dip down to help him and when you stand up the club goes quiet.

_After one whole quart of brandy,_

_Like a daisy, I'm awake_  
With no Bromo-Seltzer handy  
I don't even shake

You turn around and see Santana singing. It’s almost like she isn’t trying. The way the words easily flow from her lips and into the room is flawless. __  
  
Men are not a new sensation  
I've done pretty well I think  
But this half-pint imitation  
Put me on the blink

You’re completely enchanted by her voice. The words of her song reach into you and bring all your emotions to the surface. __  
  
I'm wild again, beguiled again  
A simpering, whimpering child again  
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I  
  
Couldn't sleep and wouldn't sleep  
When love came and told me, I shouldn't sleep  
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I

When the song comes to a close the entire club claps for Santana, even your dad. He even stands up and claps for her. You smile and shake your head. He’s the best dad you could ever ask for.

Around ten your dad leaves. He tells you that he’s too old for this kind of thing. He hugs you then Santana then Quinn. Then when he leaves you hug Quinn and thank her for inviting him.

By the end of the night, you’re running on sheer will power. Santana finally has to tell the last people that you’re closing up. They leave willingly which is nice. Sometimes they don’t and it’s a struggle to get them to leave. Santana has created a safe haven that some people don’t have anywhere else.

“I am beat,” Sam lean on the counter across from Mercedes, “What do you say we get out of here?”

Mercedes smiles, “Let’s go.”

Sam walks around the bar and puts his arm around Mercedes. As they walk out he hugs Santana with one arm, “You did good.”

“We all did,” she smiles. You don’t think she’s stopped smiling since this morning.

“We’re going to go too unless you’d like for us to stay,” Rachel informs Santana.

Santana shakes her head, “You two go home and get some sleep.”

“We will most certainly be going home,” Rachel says, offering her hand to Quinn who is still sitting in a chair, “But we will not be going to sleep.”

Quinn blushes heavily and you both share a knowing smile.

“Looks like it’s just you and me kid,” Santana looks at you from her place. She’s leaning on the end of the bar and from her height you can see that she has taken her shoes off.

You walk over to her and hug her from behind. “Ready to go home?”

She turns around in your arms and puts her arms around your neck. You slip your hands down to hold onto her waist, “Well we can do that or something else.”

“Something else like what?” you ask.

She doesn’t leave your arms to reach under the bar and pull out an envelope. She taps the side of it on your cheek and kisses your lips. She offers the envelope to you and you take it.

You honestly have no idea what’s inside. Unless it’s the deed to another bar, but you’re sure that that’s something she would have told you. You open the flap and pull out two long rectangular tickets. You read the top of it. Pacific Railroad. Then you read the rest of it.

You throw your arms around her and kiss her deeply. She smiles against your lips, “So where to?”

You take her hand and drag her to the door. “We’re going to Vermont.”


End file.
